Prisoners from HMP Hewell are creating a garden entitled Serving Thyme in the Garden of Gallifrey, to celebrate Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show this weekend (9th – 12th May).
Complete with its very own ‘plant’ Daleks, the inmates’ garden is, literally, a Living Room and reflects a journey through thyme and space. Visitors enter the ‘room’ through the Tardis to be greeted by a world of transcendental wonders. This includes a spiralling purple time vortex created from coloured shale and four different types of thyme which draw you unwittingly into the path of the Doctor’s enemies.
Each regeneration of the trusted Time Lord from the past fifty years lurks in the garden alongside the Doctor’s faithful companion, K9, created from sedum plants. Just like the programme, nothing is quite what it seems - a living TV set grasps menacingly at visitors watched by a child sitting on a turf sofa.
The prisoners have been responsible for making and growing everything in the garden using a wide variety of ferns, succulents, herbs and colourful plants. Their children inspired the final design by creating pictures and ideas for their fathers including a living rug made from blue grass and French marigolds. A weeping angel is surrounded by swaying black grass and was cast from concrete by the inmates.
More info on visiting the garden here
