Alder Hey Urban Foraging Station

The Alder Hey Urban Foraging Station is a landscape that weaves together 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. Once within, a sense of freedom prevails to explore, leave the path and ‘get lost in your own world’.

A design language of forms associated with foraging is abstracted into a woven landscape. Precast concrete ‘strands’ make up a picnic blanket laid over an undulating landscape with edible herbs growing through. The garden is designed to encourage engagement with nature through foraging, sharing healthy food, play, relaxing together and being in the moment.

The garden features planting inspired by a number of habitats that were once commonplace including species-rich hedgerow, orchard meadow and bog/ditch habitats. These are human-made habitats that are easily damaged through the loss of knowledge about how they should be maintained.