Award-winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden begins new life at Park Hill, creating a lasting community space

A multi-award-winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden celebrating the importance of nature on the edge of our towns and cities has officially opened in its permanent home at Sheffield’s landmark Park Hill. 

Now a welcoming community space to be enjoyed by local residents for generations to come, the garden was officially opened on Friday 7 August 2026 and forms part of the ongoing transformation of Park Hill.

Park Hill has been transformed in recent years by a joint venture partnership of Urban Splash and Places for People with the pair working together to create hundreds of new homes, student accommodation, amenities and green spaces; work has recently started on a fourth phase – a limited edition collection of 125 homes that will be released for sale in September. 

At the centre of the new garden stands the striking, giant Mother Nature guardian figure, created from fallen trees, Derbyshire stone, and willow. Remodelled for her public and permanent home, she will be surrounded by wildflowers, her dry-stone wall ‘body’ winding through the garden, forming an enclosed space for community gathering or quiet contemplation. Due to the heatwave, trees and climbing roses will be added in the autumn.

Speaking on behalf of the joint venture, Places for People’s Nilam Buchanan said: "The garden is a real moment for Park Hill, not just for the development, but for the neighbourhood as a whole. Green, welcoming, shared spaces are what make a place feel like home, and we hope this becomes somewhere residents genuinely love and use every day.

"It also feels like the right time as we prepare to release  our next collection of homes here – some of the last that will ever be created at Park Hill – and it's a reminder of what makes this place so special. There's nowhere quite like it in Sheffield, and this garden is another reason to love it."

The garden began life at The Campaign to Protect Rural England Garden: On the Edge, designed by renowned landscape designer Sarah Eberle for the charity’s centenary year. Following its appearance at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026, where it won both a Gold Medal and Garden of the Year, it has been carefully reimagined for life at Park Hill. 

The garden was visited at Chelsea by His Majesty King Charles III and well-known figures including Dame Judi Dench and Dame Joanna Lumley. 

Sponsored by the grant-giving charity Project Giving Back, the garden highlights the importance of edgelands, the fragile spaces on the fringes of our towns and cities that connect people to nature in everyday life, yet are undervalued and under constant threat. It continues the legacy of Ethel Haythornthwaite, pioneer of the British countryside movement, activist and poet and one of CPRE’s earliest campaigners, who was instrumental in creating the Sheffield Green Belt. 

Sarah Eberle said: “One of the most rewarding things about this project has been seeing it evolve from a temporary show garden into a place that will become part of everyday life. The heart of the design remains the Mother Nature figure but we’ve reimagined the garden specifically for Park Hill so it feels rooted in this landscape and community.”

CPRE chief executive Roger Mortlock said: “We want people to feel pride in their countryside and, through this garden and other spaces like it, to love the countryside that’s right on their doorstep.  

“We’re so excited that the reimagined garden has now opened to the public at Sheffield's Park Hill. In many ways, Sheffield is the birthplace of CPRE, where some of our earliest calls for a Green Belt began. That work was led by the remarkable Ethel Haythornthwaite, and I hope she would be proud to see this garden celebrating the relationship between the city and the countryside that surrounds it.”  

Hattie Ghaui, CEO of Project Giving Back, said: “The wonderful Mother Nature sculpture, and the quietly brilliant garden that Sarah created around her, was one of the most talked about features at this year’s RHS Chelsea. Seeing her settle into a permanent home in Sheffield, where she will continue to be nurtured by the Park Hill community, is a wonderful way to help mark our final year of funding gardens for good causes.”

The garden’s designer, Sarah Eberle, is the most decorated designer at RHS Chelsea and 2026 marks her 50th year in horticulture. A team of artisans helped her to create the garden including fifth-generation stone wallers from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, Lydia and Cuthbert Noble; renowned willow sculptor Tom Hare; and champion woodcarver and chainsaw artist Chris Wood. It was built at the show by multi award-winning landscapers, The Outdoor Room, and at Park Hill by Holmfirth-based Peak Landscapes.

The opening of the On the Edge garden comes ahead of the launch of CPRE's Love Your Countryside month, a nationwide celebration of the everyday countryside throughout September.