Award-winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden arrives at The Donkey Sanctuary

The Donkey Sanctuary’s 50th anniversary celebrations continues as its multi-award-winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden has been re-built back at the charity’s international headquarters in Sidmouth, Devon. The garden will open to visitors from Monday 15 July and like the Sanctuary, will be free of charge for people to visit.

The ‘Donkeys Matter’ Artisan Garden scooped the coveted ‘People’s Choice Award’ and a silver medal in the judges’ awards at the prestigious London show in May. The garden, which has now been skilfully reconstructed at its Sidmouth sanctuary, was designed to showcase the charity’s international work and celebrate 50 years of transforming the lives of donkeys and mules.

Using water as its central theme, the artisan gardenencapsulates the interdependency between people and their working donkeys. It demonstrates how owning a donkey means access to clean, fresh water for some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world.

The Donkey Sanctuary’s presence at the world-renowned show has introduced the work of the international animal welfare charity to a whole new audience. Returning the garden to the charity’s international headquarters in Sidmouth, which in 2018 attracted 350,000 visitors, will help to deliver the organisation’s wider message to even more visitors, and bring joy to thousands more people.

A key garden design feature is a path traversing from bottom left to top right representing the many journeys donkeys carry out on behalf of communities to support their livelihoods. The garden also includes a shelter and a well with a dripping bucket.

In places like Namibia, Lamu, Somaliland and Ethiopia, donkeys are used to collect water for entire communities. A donkey will often collect 40 – 60 litres of water at one time. The simple act of a donkey carrying water reduces the time required to access it, freeing children to get an education and women to be economically active.

The planting of the ‘Donkeys Matter’ garden suggests the dry Mediterranean climate, including Mediterranean Sea Holly (Eryngium bourgatii), Iris ‘Langport Wren’ and Lavender ‘Hidcote’ (Lavandula angustifolia). The colour palette is claret, purple and silver, with bright, vibrant flowers bringing beauty and colour to the garden’s harsh surroundings. The trees in the space are Pine ‘Glauca’ (Pinus parviflora) and Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens).

The garden is testament to North Devon designersAnnie Prebensen and Christina Williams.

It was made possible by a generous supporter of The Donkey Sanctuary, whose wish was that the charity should have a garden at the prestigious show that would help raise its profile and take its message to a wider diverse audience.