Vicky Manthorpe turns up the silence with The Quiet Garden Movement

Who can resist an invitation to visit a garden? Whether it’s a country flower meadow or an urban oasis of greenery, a garden is like a homecoming – a safe place where nature has been adapted to human needs. The appeal is simple – refreshment for the senses and a rest from daily cares. Add another ingredient – quietness – and there is the possibility of restoring or maintaining our health and wellbeing.

Quietness is not just a matter of the absence of noise, low decibels or remoteness from traffic. It’s about the outer quietness seeping inside you, encouraging a response of inner stillness. And The Quiet Garden Movement is about intentional quietness – gardens for the specific purpose of being silent.

Appropriately enough, the founder of the movement, Philip Roderick, is, among other things, a percussionist – he knows all about loud noise, drum beat and reverberation, and how that can be followed with a beautiful stilling of your inner core. In 1992, Roderick was working as a university chaplain when he was struck by his students’ need for rest and inner renewal. He came up with a brilliant low-cost, low-key way to promote spiritual wellbeing in the widest sense: The Quiet Garden.