The Serge Hill Project

The Serge Hill Project for Gardening, Creativity, and Health, was set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2023 by Sue and Tom Stuart-Smith. The project draws on Sue's work as a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of the best selling book, The Well Gardened Mind, which investigates the power of gardening to transform lives, as well as Tom's horticultural expertise as an internationally renowned Landscape Architect.

The project is located in a one-acre orchard at Serge Hill in Hertfordshire. This not-for-profit initiative is based on the understanding that working with nature can radically transform people’s health and wellbeing. The aim is to foster community inclusion through gardening and other forms of creativity. The project was featured on BBC Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time and ITV Alan Titchmarsh’s Gardening Club.

The building at the heart of the Orchard has been designed by architect, Ben Stuart-Smith, and is an educational resource centre for local primary and secondary schools, youth organisations and mental health charities.

The building is set within a nurturing garden environment, enabling creative ways of connecting with nature. The garden is managed organically and includes growing spaces for food as well as a large collection of herbaceous perennials known as the Plant Library. The site also includes a propagation nursery situated behind the building, run by Sunnyside Rural Trust, a Hertfordshire based charity that provides horticultural training for people with learning disabilities.

Find out more about this project at www.sergehillproject.co.uk

and on Instagram @sergehillproject