About Us

The network is a UK initiative - we are a multidisciplinary community of gardeners, designers, landscape architects, sociologists, therapists and healthcare professionals. We are practitioners and academics who recognise the need to bring all those involved with the healing environment into closer dialogue.  Our aim is to provide a central forum for this to happen. We want to break down barriers and promote serious debate about the role of green space in healthcare interventions.

​This is a network
Can you help us do what we do - see our support page

History

Founders
The founding steering group includes Gursewak Aulakh, landscape architect, University of Plymouth, Angie Butterfield, garden historian, Daryl Martin, sociologist, University of York, Zoe Millman, landscape researcher, Birmingham City University and Colin Porter, landscape designer. 

Beginnings
The Network held an initial ‘Stepping Stones’ Forum Meeting at North Devon Hospice, Barnstaple, Devon in May 2014. This was followed by a one day seminar in February 2015, entitled 'Nature and Wellbeing'.  It was held at the Penny Brohn Cancer Care Centre in Bristol where the five acre garden plays a central role in therapeutic and healing work. The event was hosted by Michael Connors, Director of Services at Penny Brohn and Colin Porter and attended by landscape architects, designers, gardeners, writers, researchers and health care professionals. Speakers included Kathryn Aalto, Jeremy Parker, Angie Butterfield, Juliet Sargeant, Stephen Pettet-Smith, Elizabeth Williamson and Sara Miller.

Constitution and management board
​We are an unincorporated association with a constitution and our current management board consists of Colin Porter, Angie Butterfield, Liz Ware and Daryl Martin.
​Colin Porter is a gardener and landscape designer. He trained at Kew and was Head Gardener at RHS Rosemoor before setting up his own design and build business 15 years ago. He has worked with North Devon Hospice over the last 8 years to renew and develop their 6 acre garden. He was awarded Professional Gardener of the Year in 2009 for his work there and has recently completed a Master of Landscape Research degree at Plymouth University. His website link.

Angie Butterfield has worked as an art historian, primarily within gallery education for over 20 years. She is also trained in horticulture. In 2004 she founded the national bereavement support charity, The Sand Rose Project. Her research into the role of gardens in contemporary healthcare has evolved through both her academic interests and professional work. She completed her PhD at Falmouth University in 2014 entitled ‘Resilient Places? Healthcare Gardens and the Maggie’s Centres’.

​Liz Ware is a freelance garden writer, historian, and photographer. She writes on all aspects of gardens and landscapes but has a particular interest in promoting their health giving properties. She has degrees from Exeter and Reading Universities, an MA in Garden History from Bristol University and diplomas in Horticulture and Plantsmanship. She is a member of the Garden Media Guild and the Professional Garden Photographers’ Association. She is also a judge for the Green Flag Parks Award. Liz initiated and runs Silent Space.

Daryl Martin is a lecturer in Sociology at the University of York. He is co-director of the Centre for Urban Research (CURB) at York, and has interests in the areas of architectural theory, cultural geography and urban studies. His current research lies primarily in the intersection of architecture, embodiment and health. This interest has grown out of research with a cancer care provider to explore how the design of its buildings shapes their visitors’ experience of the care it provides and facilitates the work of their staff. Currently, Daryl is involved as a Co-Investigator on the ESRC funded 'Buildings in the Making' project, which trains the focus back to the design stage, seeking to understand the work of architects as they translate ideas of care into the buildings they plan and develop.