Christmas came early to Harefield Healing Garden when a local team from our long-term supporters Clancy volunteered to provide their time, expertise, materials and specialist machinery to help us build our ‘dry river bed’ gravel garden. Many patients had asked for a water feature in the garden but we have been unable to provide this due to infection risk from standing water. So the idea of a dry river bed flowing along the side of our Crane Garden Buildings Potting shed and meandering to the mound into a wildflower meadow took shape. This was a project we had planned and hoped to fulfil for some time, but it depended on the necessary funding. It all became possible through the generous offer from Clancy, and our good friends PwC, whose fundraising paid for the plants and who volunteered to help us plant up the gravel garden. Landscape designer Fran… of Cool Gardens, drew up the design and planting plan, tools were purchased from funds donated from Denham Village Fayre Committee and Smith’s Nurseries in Denham, and we were ready to go. Clancy prepared the ground and laid the surface, and the PWC guys wheelbarrowed all the gravel to the garden, repurposed from the Estates area, before planting it up – no easy task with the stony soil to plant into. However, with many hands, great teamwork, the support and generosity of our friends and help from the RBHC, the work was completed. All that remains now is to find some large stones and boulders and a decorative large Grecian urn to finish it off. This is a new area of the garden for patients, their visitors and staff to enjoy. It also gives us a practical hardstanding working area between our much loved potting shed, (supplied by Crane Garden Buildings,) our fabulous Alitex coldframe and great compost bins built by the Estates gardeners, to propagate plants for the Healing Gardens. As this unexpected generosity and support has all now come together to complete our ‘dry river bed’ gravel garden, it certainly feels like a timely Christmas gift for everyone!