Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Trending
    • Interview with the Vice-Chancellor
    • Country Highlight: The Netherlands
    • If You’re Moving Back Home After Uni …
    • Jane Austen in Lockdown: How her six novels are more relevant than ever
    • All About … Period Poverty
    • My Veggie Journey: How not being strictly Vegetarian is OK
    • Watch with Pride: Your Top TV Picks this Pride Month
    • Globe Trotting on Screen: Your Guide to Summer 2021
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flickr
    Seren
    • News & Politics
      1. Local News
      2. UK News
      3. Uni News
      4. World News
      5. Politics
      6. Comment
      7. Business
      Featured

      SABB Election: The Full Result Breakdown

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      Interview with the Vice-Chancellor

      May 23, 2022

      Retro? Chip shortage may bring vintage tech to your car.

      May 6, 2021

      Manizha – the artist causing a stir as the Russian representative for Eurovision 2021:

      May 6, 2021
    • Arts & Culture
      1. Books
      2. Games
      3. Film
      4. Music
      5. TV
      6. Creative Corner
      Featured

      Bangor alumni podcast earns Hollywood cameo & BBC features

      By Amelia SmithMarch 7, 20210
      Recent

      Jane Austen in Lockdown: How her six novels are more relevant than ever

      July 7, 2021

      Watch with Pride: Your Top TV Picks this Pride Month

      May 17, 2021

      Globe Trotting on Screen: Your Guide to Summer 2021

      May 16, 2021
    • Lifestyle
      1. Fashion
      2. Food and Drink
      3. Social
      4. Health and Beauty
      5. Travel
      Featured

      Country Highlight: The Netherlands

      By Emily ShoultsMay 6, 20220
      Recent

      Country Highlight: The Netherlands

      May 6, 2022

      If You’re Moving Back Home After Uni …

      August 3, 2021

      All About … Period Poverty

      May 17, 2021
    • Discovery
      1. Science
      2. Environment
      3. History
      4. International
      Featured

      Brewing up a Storm: The History of Guinness

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      Manizha – the artist causing a stir as the Russian representative for Eurovision 2021:

      May 6, 2021

      Japan plan to release radioactive water into the ocean

      May 6, 2021

      The link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots

      April 29, 2021
    • Sport
      1. Varsity 2019
      2. Varsity 2018
      3. Varsity 2017
      4. Varsity 2016
      5. Varsity 2015
      6. Varsity 2014
      7. Varsity 2013
        • Varsity 2013 Results
        • Varsity 2013 – In tweets
      Featured

      Bangor Muddogs’ American Football: a young woman finding her place

      By Jade HillMarch 23, 20210
      Recent

      The 48-hour rise and fall of the European Super League

      April 27, 2021

      The European Super League is announced

      April 19, 2021

      Formula 1’s ‘Drive to Survive S3’ is released

      April 7, 2021
    • Students’ Union
      1. Union News
      2. Societies
      3. Volunteering
      4. Clubs
      Featured

      INTERVIEW: Be Period Positive

      By Caroline CartmillMarch 17, 20210
      Recent

      Bangor University Feminist Society

      March 30, 2021

      INTERVIEW: Be Period Positive

      March 17, 2021

      LGBT History Month in Bangor

      March 4, 2021
    • Issues
      • Current Issue
      • This year’s issues
      • Last year’s issues
      • Seren Archive
      • Seren Teams
    Seren
    Home»Discovery»Environment»Bangor’s New Healing Garden!
    Environment

    Bangor’s New Healing Garden!

    Alec TudorBy Alec TudorSeptember 13, 2019No Comments3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    by Fatima Ammar 

    Bangor’s student-led community garden at the Fron Heulog site (next to St James’s Church on Friddoedd Road), formerly nicknamed ‘HogSoc garden’ is undergoing a new project in collaboration with Headway Gwynedd, the brain injury association.

    On top of the pre-existing raised vegetable beds, cold frames, live willow dome, Welsh heritage fruit trees, and our charismatic shed, we’ll be creating a sensory garden for brain trauma patients to enjoy, benefit from, and relax in.

    Sensory gardens are used to help those suffering from various sensory problems, learning difficulties, brain injuries, or mental disorders to feel safe and comfortable exploring their senses and learning to focus on them separately without risk of sensory overstimulation.

    All five senses are explored; perfumed flowers and various herbs play on the sense of smell, barks and grasses might provide interesting textures to touch, herbs, edible flowers, and fruits can play on the taste buds, kaleidoscopic wildflower patches provide a show for the eyes and even the shapes of various leaves on the plants can help to encourage shape and spatial awareness.

    Colours can also transfer across the seasons making the garden fully functional year around, for example in autumn there is an array of burnt yellows and burnished oranges as well as the crunch sound of decaying leaves covering the ground.

    More specifically for the sense of sound, there’ll be bird feeders so regular bird visitors chatter will hopefully provide some song to enrich the garden. The rustling of grass, the whispering of tree leaves and creaking of branches laden with fruit all provide a nice background sound to the garden for anyone who just wants to sit back with closed eyes. Other inquisitive visitors to the garden such as pollinators will allow the patients to learn more about the importance of invertebrates in gardens but also to simply watch bees and butterflies go about their busy day plant-hopping, oblivious to the human world. 

    The element of water can also encourage inner peace and help reduce anxiety caused by sensory overload. The sound of water is popular in Japanese tea gardens as they believe it induces a state of zen. The practice of introducing water elements to gardens has spread around the world and only increased in popularity due to the inherent calming effects of water.

    We are working on a wetland area full of bog-loving plants to not only provide a water element that is safe, but also hopefully encourage some local amphibians to move in which could help in their conservation as well as providing an excellent learning opportunity to garden visitors. Even small bodies of water have been found to attract frogs and toads. Visitors would have the opportunity to watch the mini water ecosystem in full action, from the insects flitting across the surface to the plants taking in the sunlight being visited by pollinators.

    Some pollinator-friendly plants have other very beneficial properties too.

    For example, herbs provide a wide range of benefits such as lavender being found to calm the senses and mind and chamomile helps the body relax. The scents, textures, and tastes of herbs alone makes them highly prized in therapeutic gardens around the world. Other prized sensory plants include grasses as their length and often transparent nature encourages the eyes and hands to wander through.

    These plants can be found in some professional therapeutic gardens designed by world-renowned gardeners and landscapers for the specific purpose of providing a calming yet exciting area for recovery and healing, something we hope our garden will achieve.

     

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Alec Tudor
    • Twitter

    Editor-in-Chief | 19-20 Creative Corner Editor | 18-19

    Related Posts

    Activist Spotlight: Nemonte Nenquimo

    December 27, 2020

    New Youth-Filed Climate Case Greenlit by the ECHR

    December 18, 2020

    Bangor University Participates in SHAPE Sustainability Impact Projects

    November 25, 2020

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    MORE INFORMATION
    • ABOUT
    • ADVERTISE
    • CONTACT US
    • GET INVOLVED
    • MEMBERS
    Links
    • Bangor University Bangor University
    • Google+ Google+
    • Undeb Bangor Undeb Bangor
    About

    Seren is Bangor University Students’ Union’s English Language Newspaper

    We have editorial independence from both Bangor University and Bangor Students’ Union. Seren is written by students for students and we’d love you to get involved!

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.