The Alder Hey Urban Foraging Station is a woven landscape; it is about weaving together the young and old, green and urban, play and learning and Alder Hey Children's Hospital with its community.
At its core is the aspiration to inspire children to lead active, healthy, pleasurable lives. The garden is infused with the magic of discovery inherent to foraging. Visitors first encounter the garden as nostalgic glimpses through rampant, blossoming hedgerows. Within, a sense of freedom prevails - explore and leave the path, get lost in your own world. A design language of woven forms associated with foraging are abstracted into a woven landscape. Precast concrete "strands" make up a picnic blanket laid over an undulating landscape with edible herbs growing through.
The importance of mental wellbeing, particularly in children, has been thrown into the spotlight during the pandemic and although this garden is outwardly about foraging, it uses this theme to address the issue of children’s mental wellbeing in an accessible and light and touch.
Alder Hey was originally created as a workhouse, providing care for the sick. By July 1914, a portion of the institution was allotted for the accommodation of sick children after concerns were raised over a serious epidemic of eye disease in young children.