Families to benefit from new ‘Bloom 'N' Play’ garden at Bullingdon

A new garden for people visiting families and loved ones at HMP Bullingdon was unveiled last week.

A prison visit can be a stressful experience, in particular for children, and the new garden is a place where visitors can relax and take a breath before they go through the gate into the prison. It also allows children to connect with nature, which has been proven to improve mental health and wellbeing.

The ‘Bloom 'N' Play’ garden, at the back of the prison’s Visitors’ Centre, has fruit trees, vegetable and herb beds and a "camp" willow dome made out of growing willow. There is also a slide, a sandpit and a bug hotel.

The garden has been funded, in the main by the money visitors spend on the Tea Bar while on their visit. Additional funds were raised by The Nature Effect CIC, which worked closely with Pact and the prison on its design and delivery. The project has transformed a previously under-utilised piece of land at the back of the Visitors’ Centre.

More than 16,000 adults and 3,500 children visit loved ones at the prison every year, and Pact works with the prison to ensure that the process is as welcoming and family-friendly as possible. Maintaining family connections helps everyone through a prison sentence and significantly improves outcomes for people leaving prison. Men and women who maintain family ties and have support from a good network on the outside while they are in prison are 39% less likely to reoffend.