In a hospital courtyard, tucked away from the bustling wards, is Medway’s first dementia garden.

The sensory green space, called The Butterfly Garden, is a sanctuary of peace and tranquillity in the middle of Medway Maritime Hospital, in Windmill Road, Gillingham.

It is colourful, with painted benches, cushions and the smell of jasmine fills the air.

The Mayor of Medway Cllr Steve Iles and hospital chief James Devine officially opened the site on Wednesday, May 1, which coincidently is in the middle of National Gardening Week, from April 30 to May 6.

For over a year, head of therapies April Thompson, who oversees the treatment of patients with chronic mental conditions, and senior data quality coordinator Jenny Holliday, who works to improve those patients' care, have been the driving forces behind the project.

Mrs Thompson said: “It has been a big team effort. We had lots of input from other professionals, such as occupational therapists, nurses and physiotherapists.

“We wanted to create a safer space to escape from the wards.

“People often lose their confidence when they’re in hospital and one of the things people like most is gardening.

“They can come out and undertake activities that will get them back to their baseline level of activity and hopefully it will help them function as normal before they go back home.”

But it is not just a pretty flowerbed; the space will help clinicians assess patients, and can begin to jog their memories which act as a stepping stone back to normality before they leave the hospital.

Mrs Thompson said:”We’ve got lots of sensory plants. You can touch them, they’ve got different scents and smells, colours for visual stimulation and we’ve got vegetables people can pick themselves.

“Some of the colours are beneficial, sensory plants have different feelings, smells, and sensations.

“All those things can stimulate reminiscence therapy.

“That means there are a lot of different triggers which can bring back memories.”

Mrs Holliday said: “There is a washing line people can use to hang clothes, and nurses can assess their arm strength and movement.

“They can work on their motor skills and build arm muscles after a long stay in hospital.

“We’ve also got different sized watering cans for those who can’t manage to lift full-sized ones. “

The garden also has a quiet area surrounded by tall hedgerows.

Mrs Holliday said: “If there are patients who haven’t been out for a long time, particularly those with dementia, they may feel intimidated to come out into a large open space.

"So we have a private space, for those who just want to be alone or private.

“We purposefully built a step in that area so this actually doubles up as rehab for patients as they can use the rail attached to the wall to do their step assessment as well.”

The garden is open to all patients, as long as they can safely make the journey down from their ward.

Mrs Thompson said: “Staff can use it too as stress levels can be quite high on the ward.

"They can come down and do a bit of gardening at the end of their shift.”

However, the garden could not have reached full bloom without the help of many charities and local businesses who donated their time and materials.

Medway League of Friends donated £5,000 and more than £1,000 from a public JustGiving page kick-started the works.

Dan Barnes, from builders Travis Perkins, provided tools, gardening equipment and helped build parts of the garden.

The team from Ideal Home Improvement created a wheelchair user-friendly, raised flower bed, and donated a tree.

Sixty pupils from Maundene School, in Swallow Rise, Chatham, did some digging as part of their learning about care in the community.

The Octopus Foundation brought their Men in Sheds project, which combats male depression and isolation, to volunteer. They built the arbour and planters out of recycled pallets.

To ensure the private area is sheltered, a team from the National Grid built the decking, put up a screen and handrail. Contractors Bauvill helped fund a new door, wheelchair access and paving into the privacy area.

Hempstead-based gardener Eva Girling advised on landscaping and helped pick suitable plants, many of which were donated by Martin Tubman, from B&Q Gillingham in Will Adams Way, and Dillywood Garden Centre, in Dillywood Lane, Rochester.