Dr. Richard Claxton and Gardening4Health
Dr Richard Claxton has an enlightened view of the myriad benefits of gardening for both mental and physical health. The patients in his Tonbridge clinic are fortunate indeed.
Richard Claxton and Bumble
When working as a Junior GP in London he first realised how therapeutic gardening was for relieving his stress. ‘It was a brilliant foil, therapeutic and also for its creative qualities.’ In modern jargon it is referred to as ‘Social prescribing’.
In an age when everyone’s best friend seems to be their mobile telephone, people are becoming increasingly isolated from one another. Richard’s solution is: ‘Volunteer in a garden, it is a marvellous way of taking physical exercise and having contact with other people as well getting that much needed filip of Vitamin D.’ As little as 2-3 hours a week undertaking tasks such as weeding, sowing, harvesting can make a difference.
But we must all forget using gardening gloves – Richard commends the benefits of exposure to bacteria in the soil. ‘The micro-biological organisms in the soil affect the brain chemistry, adjusting the levels of serotonin in the brain. I hardly ever wear garden gloves for this reason. But I am not sure my patients like my earth-stained hands’
In 2018 he had the brainwave of setting up a countrywide Gardening4health directory. It has a map showing all the Therapy Gardens across the United Kingdom that deliver green/gardening therapy. More than four hundred are listed. ‘I want to create a landscape where anyone can access gardening-based therapies wherever they live.’
This initiative arose as a result of his seeking opportunities for some of his patients to work in gardens. He soon discovered that there are several charities but they are not very well known.
A few stats:
12% of people have no immediate access to any green space – this includes a balcony.
21% of people in London have no access to green space. And
2% of Afro-Caribbean people have no access
‘These are scary figures.’
He is busy establishing Gardening4health as an registered charity, focusing on providing funding, support, shared learning, training and community events.
Richard volunteers at Sissinghurst leading tours around the gardens
Somehow Richard finds the time to volunteer at Sissinghurst, taking groups around the garden as well as regularly speaking at conferences and events. He is organising a conference with Annie Guilfoyle to be held at Sue and Tom Stuart Smith‘s home Serge Hill this autumn (see previous blog on the Plant Library at Serge Hill).
Like so many gardeners it was his grandfather who first awakened his interest. ‘He taught me how to grow sweet peas when I was about six.’ (Nine times out of ten it is a grandparent who first awakens a small child’s interest in gardening).
Moving to Kent, he and his wife bought a cottage in Plaxtol from a very keen gardener who had completed the RHS Level 2 at Hadlow College. This helped him on his horticultural journey before he moved to a house on the edge of Benenden ten years ago. He proudly showed me a video of the garden he has lovingly created there.
In Tonbridge he set up a therapy garden which employed two people instructing volunteers who did 2-3 hours a week weeding, sowing, harvesting and making things such as wreaths. ‘We used to send the volunteers home with onions and butternut squash with recipes. We donated surplus vegetables to the local food bank.’ Very sadly funding for the two Garden Therapy Link Workers was suddenly pulled by the local Primary Care Network in February. (It was funded by NHS money from the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.) At the moment the initiative is mothballed.
Follow Richard Claxon on @richardclaxtongardens
@gardening4health
