Surrey Council Eco Garden Wins Silver at RHS Hampton Court Show

28 July 2025 | Tags: biodiversity, bus shelters, community spaces, green infrastructure, Littlethorpe projects, living roof, modular design, parklets, place-making, public realm, public space design, rain garden, RHS garden festival, RHS Hampton Court, street furniture, Surrey County Council, sustainable design, sustainable street furniture, timber shelters, urban design

How Littlethorpe supported Surrey County Council’s award-winning garden at RHS Hampton Court

Each year, the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival transforms the palace grounds into a living gallery of sustainable design. While Chelsea may grab the headlines, Hampton Court is where bold, community-driven ideas take root.

This year, one question stood out:

What if the places we rush past could become spaces to pause, breathe, and belong?

That’s what Surrey County Council explored in their award-winning exhibit and it’s exactly the kind of question that drives us at Littlethorpe.

So when they asked us to support their vision, we knew it was a natural fit.

 

Rethinking Road Space

Surrey’s street garden reimagined the space taken up by a standard parking bay and turned it into something far more valuable: a place for people.

Surrey Council’s vision for the garden was “transforming ordinary parking spaces into vibrant green areas … to highlight how urban spaces can support wildlife, manage water sustainably, and offer welcoming places for everyone. This project aims to create healthier streets in Surrey, encourage positive behaviour change, support mental wellbeing, and help build a greener future.”

Each of the three mini gardens showed a different way we can bring nature back to the kerbside:

• The Walton Parklet focused on air quality, using pollution-absorbing plants like cotoneaster and trees such as forest pansy and field maple.
• The Cranleigh Rain Garden demonstrated sustainable drainage, filled with moisture-loving plants like sage and masterwort, and drought-tolerant species like willow-leaved loosestrife.
• The Guildford Parklet celebrated biodiversity, using reclaimed materials to create seating, bird baths, a jasmine-covered canopy, and play elements.

Together, they showed how even a single parking space can spark change and earned a Silver Medal from RHS judges, who called the design:

“Astonishingly clever… when you sit in the garden, you feel cocooned in the street, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.”

— The Guardian, 1 July 2025

Making Space for People — Our Role

Alongside the award winning gardens was one of our hand-built shelters and a set of modular planters and benches for people to shelter from the sun and take in the scenes. More than just functional street furniture though, our products are designed with the same values that inspired the gardens themselves.

“Littlethorpe are one of our suppliers for bus shelters across Surrey… The shelter will be relocated to a project in Ash and the planters… to Shere.”

— Surrey County Council

• The shelter’s living roof absorbs CO₂ and fine dust while supporting pollinators, mirroring the environmental thinking behind the rain garden.
• The planters, complete with built-in seating, offer space to pause, and provide a safe refuge for wildlife in busy urban settings.
• Shelter and seating for people and wildlife to rest for a moment and get out of the sun.

 

More Than a Garden

This wasn’t just a display. It was a provocation:

Are we designing our streets for cars or for people?

As Councillor Matt Furniss put it:

“The show garden demonstrates how we can provide a better balance between roads and pedestrians… creating attractive and functional areas that encourage people to visit, stay longer and support our vital local economies.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Want to Create Greener, More Human Spaces?

Whether you’re a parish clerk, urban designer or project lead. We can help you bring public space to life. Explore our projects page or get in touch to start a conversation.

 

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