The Donkey Sanctuary’s Chelsea Flower Show garden

The Donkey Sanctuary’s 50 years’ legacy building continues.  Its award-winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden has been rebuilt at the charity’s international headquarters in Devon. The garden is open to the public and like the Sanctuary, is free of charge for visitors.

The Donkeys Matter Artisan Garden scooped the coveted People’s Choice Award and a silver medal at the prestigious show in May. The garden was designed to showcase The Donkey Sanctuary's international work and celebrates 50 years of transforming the lives of donkeys and mules.

above:  Chelsea Garden, Devon                                                                  above:  working donkeys in Ethiopia 

The Donkey Sanctuary with the generous support of a long term donor, felt a Chelsea garden was in keeping with its long term vision of animal welfare, conservation and sustainability. The international charity is committed to building a legacy of donkey excellence in a sustainable green space for future generations.  Using water as its central theme, the artisan garden creates a narrative to illustrate the donkey's journey from a wooden shelter through hot, dry landscapes to its place of work in agriculture or water collection, for example, to support the livelihoods of entire communities.

The garden demonstrates by way of a well and dripping bucket how owning a donkey means access to clean, fresh water for some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world. In places like Namibia, Lamu, Somaliland and Ethiopia, donkeys have to collect water for entire villages. A donkey will often collect 40 – 60 litres of water at one time. The simple act of a donkey carrying water reduces 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,  Iris ‘Langport Wren’ and Lavender ‘Hidcote’. The colour palette is claret, purple and silver with bright flowers lending beauty and colour to the garden’s harsh surroundings. The trees are Pine ‘Glauca’ and Cypress.
 
This summer visitors to The Donkey Sanctuary can buy similar plants to those featured in the garden and can also learn about conservation projects across the charity’s farms as well as its supported charities worldwide.
 
​The Chelsea garden is testament to North Devon designers Annie Prebensen and Christina Williams and  made possible by a generous supporter who wanted to help raise The Donkey Sanctuary’s profile and take its message to a wider audience
Images copyright The Donkey Sanctuary.

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