GARDEN designer Fi Boyle’s first show garden, designed for ex-service personnel undergoing treatment for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was awarded a silver medal on Tuesday at Hampton Court Flower Show.

For the designer, who lives in Mere and works from an office at Stourhead, the garden is the realisation of a dream. Initially, she trained as a graphic designer, but having caught the garden design bug after helping out friends with their gardens, Ms Boyle retrained at the Garden Design School in Cobham, Surrey.

Both the garden and charity have something of a personal interest for Ms Boyle as her husband, a former officer in the Irish Guards, suffered a head injury and PTSD, following a serious accident.

“Designing the garden has been a huge project, from the concept design in August last year,” she said. “Combat Stress want the garden to be used after the show, and it will be transferred to the charity’s headquarters in Leatherhead where it will transform an arid courtyard area into a space conducive to rehabilitation and healing. This makes it a real garden and has been designed for all year round interest.”

“The whole experience has been thrilling for me.”

To create the garden, Ms Boyle teamed up with independent gardening consultant Dorinda Wolfe Murray of Woodcutts, near Salisbury. She too was married to an army officer who suffered from PTSD and combat stress. “We wanted to create a garden at Hampton Court Flower Show to reach out to those people who may not realise that their loved ones are suffering from PTSD or combat stress and that help is available from the charity,” she said.

Visitors to Hampton Court Flower Show can see the Combat Stress Therapeutic Garden until Saturday.