The Children’s Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Overview:

Completed in 2019, and set within the unique setting of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Children’s Garden is a dedicated space for fun, exploring, play and learning. As a design and build contract, Ground Control Landscape Architects developed a detailed design that developed the concept, scheme and soft landscaping initially created by Royal Botanic Garden Kew’s Garden design team. 

Scope of Works:

The scheme specifically focused on encouraging creative play and engaging children with nature to create lasting family memories. Central to this was the integration of existing mature trees within the site. 

As part of the initial design concept, the Kew Gardens design team stated that the 200-year-old English Oak tree within the centre of the site was to be retained and made into a focal feature of the Garden, as were the mature pine trees to the north of the site. Ground Control designers worked with bespoke playpiece creators Duncan and Grove and our teams built the Oak Tree Circle and Pine Wilderness using the trees as part of the play features. The Oak tree was to be encircled by a 4m high circular timber walkway that looks over the garden and encourages children to interact with nature through the Oak’s magnificent canopy.

Design: 'What do plants need to grow?'

The garden design placed play, nature and planting at its heart. The structures and hard landscaping sympathetically blend with the characterful soft landscaping to introduce areas of discovery amongst secret paths, structures for climbing, opportunities for splashing and manipulating nature through water play, and quieter open areas for families to gather and explore. 

Ground Control Landscape Architects had to consider a thematic element of ‘what do plants need to grow’, alongside two clear aims. 

• Create opportunities for children to engage with nature 
• Form lasting family memories in a space dedicated to fun, exploration and play  

The resulting design emphasised opportunities for children and families to play through exploration, imagination and nature, rather than traditional playground structures. The garden was split into individual themed zones of Air, Earth, Water and Sun, that integrated bespoke play equipment from play manufacturers Duncan and Grove and helped to answer ‘what do plants need to grow’. 

Covering an area of over 10,000m2, the garden appeals to a wide range of ages and abilities and allows different family types to play and create memories together. The unique play zones are linked by weaving paths through wooded areas that have been complimented with new shrubs and planting from RGB’s horticultural team. 

Earth and Air Gardens

The Earth Garden focused on natural elements and combined timber climbing equipment, slides and earth mounds. The undulations create a safe yet adventurous landscape that also includes a living bamboo tunnel, sand pit and bespoke timber huts for interactive play. 

The area was surrounded by a walkway from a recycled plastic and timber compound to create a durable and sustainable piece.  

In contrast to the earthy tones portrayed in the Earth Garden, the Air Garden creates a bright, light and colourful setting with inbuilt bounce pads, hammocks and periscopes. 

Situated with the existing woodland, the relaxed and airy space is a place for imaginative play, thanks to its colourful windflowers and pollen spheres that have been installed to catch the wind blowing through the site. The addition of bubble seating was included to imitate seeds floating on the breeze and conceptualise how children can engage with nature.  

Throughout the installation of the Air Garden, works considered root zones and pathways were constructed by building up the existing ground level rather than digging into and installing a subbase. 

Sun and Water Gardens

Continuing ‘what do plants need to grow’, the Sun Garden is designed within a sun trap, with open spaces for play between features and landscaping. The area is surrounded by fruit trees, planted against and trained along line wires attached to a fruit hoot structure.  

The area is surrounded by a bespoke pergola with seating and coloured panes that let the sun shine into the tunnels and create colourful patterns to enjoy. 

Complimenting this are interactive water play features installed in the Water Gardens, which include pumping stations, boulders, a bridge, and a rock pool. Children have the opportunity for challenge and adventure as they climb over the boulders, explore the mini reservoirs and follow the water downstream. The water then accumulates with the chance to create dams and manipulate how the water reaches a small paddling area, just like the flow of water in nature.  

Boulders were sourced from a quarry in mid-Wales and selected by our Landscape Architects for their natural aesthetic. 

Today, The Children’s Garden remains a significant family attraction at Kew Gardens, complimented by Edible Science: Kew’s Kitchen Garden, which was originally created for the 2015 TV series ‘Kew on a Plate’, but revamped in 2023 by Ground Control to enhance the visitor experience to the attraction.