“Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.” William Wordsworth

The Cassel hospital’s four-acre garden is a key focus and of huge therapeutic benefit to its patients.

Nature-based activities have been proven to bring great benefits to people living with mental illness. They boost confidence and a wide variety of skills, from social to creative.

The Cassel Hospital is very fortunate to have such beautiful four acre grounds and garden. Since moving to Ham from its original home in Kent in 1948,  there have been gardens and gardening, in one form or another, for patients to be involved in as part of their recovery and overall therapeutic experience.

The Cassel Hospital building was originally a late 18th-century house known as Morgan House, named after its owner, philanthropist and writer John Morgan.  A  plan for the Cassel Hospital garden shows the ambitions for the garden with its large number  of trees.

The rationale for gardening at the Cassel is to provide an activity away from all the individual and group therapy sessions and allow patients  to spend time outdoors, get exercise and grow herbs, vegetables and fruit to cook and eat as part of preparing  evening meals. 

Patients work with a professional horticulturalist every week to grow flowers, vegetables and herbs that are used by the kitchen to prepare healthy meals. In 2021, patients created a Centenary flower bed to mark the hospital’s 100 year history.

The community decides a monthly plan of gardening and outdoor activities which gently reflects the cadence of the seasons and tasks at different times of year. There are indoor plant clinics, trips to Kew Gardens and Ham House for inspiration, gathering of leaves and composting in the autumn, seed collecting and sowing as well as propagation, harvesting and tending plants.  Making bread and lavender bags can be done if the weather is bad.  There is pumpkin carving at Halloween and wreath making before Christmas.

The  Cassel garden’s fine trees help root us in a history of people who have gone before, weathered traumatic experiences and wondered at their beauty and strength.  The Swamp Cyprus (Taxodium distichum) was probably planted some 230 years ago when the house was first built and came from its native south-eastern United States.  It is a hardy and tough tree that adapts to a range of soil types.  When seen near swamps, the roots come up around the tree like knees. We have no knees but we do benefit from the spectacular orange colour that the needles/leaves turn in autumn.  

Tom Massey

Used our garden as a Horticultural student to map out and design a garden for his dissertation. Years later, in 2017 he won silver at the Chelsea Flower show he donated the garden to the Cassel as a thank you. Sarah (gardener) rallied around and various companies donated transport, time and planters to install the garden.It was opened by our patron HRH Princess Alexandra.  A time capsule with something from all the staff and patients was buried in the garden.

The healing power of nature

Sarah Heaton joined the Cassel as a gardener in 2012, having just before been qualified with an RHS certificate in horticulture. When she joined the hospital, she noticed the bigger task she had at hand. “The garden really wasn’t well looked after,” she said.

At that point, patients hadn’t been involved in the gardening process. This had changed rather quickly afterwards where a meeting between Sarah and the nurses at the Cassel spoke about the potential benefits the garden would have on those who particularly had more complex ‘personality disorders’.

“When we first introduced the idea of gardening as part of the patients’ rehabilitation, I was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely interested they were to get involved. Twelve  years on, it’s so satisfying to see the enthusiasm they have in maintaining the grounds, planting seeds and adding their personal touch,” Sarah says.

There is no doubt The Cassel Hospital‘s garden has become a vital tool of rehabilitation for those staying there. The impact gardening and the garden itself have had on patient’s path to recovery has been significant.

Below are thoughts from a few of them:

‘’I like watching things grow and seeing the progress. I also like looking after things. It’s calming, relaxing and peaceful. It takes my mind off all my mental health issues.’’

‘’It’s a nice, calming space. I like seeing the wildlife that lives in the garden itself. Nice to have a space that is in tune with nature. It’s a good space to go to clear my head.’’

‘’I like that the grounds are big enough to walk around and look at the different wildlife that is present. It’s nice to explore the secret garden and imagine what it was like in the past. I also enjoy sitting in the garden to read as it is peaceful listening to the birds and looking for the squirrels and foxes. It gives me time away from the stresses of the therapy and allows me to focus on something positive. It also reminds me that things are always changing and that I too can grow and develop.”

According to a clinician at the Cassel, “I feel that staff and patients alike are lucky to have this space to pause from moments that are often very emotionally intense. Our patients come from a variety of backgrounds and it’s amazing how they’re able to enjoy the beautiful, natural space which they were deprived of before coming here. The garden is symbolic in the way that patients are able to see plants, trees and wildlife grow, similarly the way they hope to grow as individuals during treatment here at the Cassel.”  

 We are grateful to Petersham Open Gardens and Richmond Parish Lands Charitywho have funded us since 2015.

If you would like to help people living with mental illness, or make a donation please  get in touch to find out more about the charity’s work.

Keep an eye on our news page for updates on the charity’s work.