Mental health garden 'completely transforms lives'

A private garden dedicated to supporting people who have experienced serious mental illness can "completely transform lives", its director has told the BBC.

The charity Bridewell Gardens, in Wilcote near Witney, includes a walled garden and organic vineyard spread over more than six acres (2.4 hectares), and recently featured on an episode of Gardeners' World.

The site is looked after by people recovering from serious mental health issues, and is usually closed to the public.

On Sunday, there will be an open day at the garden between 11:00 and 16:00 BST, giving the public a rare opportunity to explore the estate.

Rachel Green was previously a user of the garden after being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder -a mental health condition that is marked by a mix of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions.

She now works there.

"In 2017 I found myself here as a gardener," she said.

"I'd been in hospital and some of the other inpatients told me 'you've got to check this place out, it's absolutely beautiful'."

Ms Green said she stayed at the garden for two years during her recovery and "absolutely loved it".

"I still don't know anything about gardening but I loved following instructions, I loved working as a group and meeting other people," she explained.

The garden takes patients from across Oxfordshire and has the capacity for up to 16 gardeners each day.

Ruth Madder, Bridewell's director, said the site could be "transformative" for those recovering from mental health conditions.

"When you're in the gardens it's really deceptive, it seems really effortless, but when you listen to staff and you hear from people who have moved on from Bridewell we know that the gardens can completely transform lives," she said.

As well as Sunday's open day, Bridewell will also be open to the public this summer on 15 June, 6 July and 7 September.

Ms Green said for the gardeners the days were a "chance to bring their families here and show them, 'this is what I've been doing - I planted this'".

"We don't want people to think of us as a secret garden - lots of people describe us that way - but we don't want to be secret, we want to let people know that we're here - the general public, but also people who might want to use our service," she added.

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