About The Quiet Garden Movement
The Quiet Garden Movement is a network of outdoor spaces and gardens spread across both rural and urban locations worldwide. These outdoor spaces are used for prayer, contemplation, stillness and rest for the spiritual, mental and physical well-being of individuals, groups and communities.
The Quiet Garden Movement is committed to, and inspired by, its Christian roots. However, those involved in the Movement come from a variety of traditions and cultures, and access to outdoor spaces and gardens is available to individuals and communities of all faiths and none. As such, the gardens are found in a variety of settings including private homes, churches, schools, hospitals, community gardens, prisons, retreat centres and woodland burial grounds.
Today we enjoy working with a global network of Quiet Gardens and are excited about our future growth!
How it works
Each Quiet Garden offers something a little different. One garden may provide a dedicated, free of charge space where you can just ‘drop in’ at a time to suit you, any day, all year round. Another garden may run low-cost events, such as quiet days or retreats, where you may be required to book your place in advance. And yet another may be set up as a labyrinth garden, offering the opportunity for a prayerful or meditative walk for those who follow the labyrinth’s path. Some Quiet Gardens are only accessible by those who are part of that particular community, such as gardens provided in schools, prisons or hospitals.
All Quiet Gardens are owned and run locally by the host with ongoing support from us.
Our easy-to-use garden search facility enables you to search for a garden in a particular area and view details of the garden including opening times, location, events and contact details.
The Quiet Garden Movement flows from the example of Jesus’ withdrawal to natural places to pray and his invitation to, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’ (St Mark’s Gospel 6:31). If Jesus regularly and consistently needed such space to just ‘be’, then so do we.
Our vision
We’d love a world where anybody living anywhere could retreat to a quiet outdoor space close by, any time they needed. Over the coming years our objective is to grow awareness of our work and create even more opportunities for many more people globally to experience the well-being effects of silence, stillness, prayer, contemplation and the natural environment.
With this in mind, we are developing a number of collaborations with compatible organisations, such as the National Estate Churches Network and the Small Pilgrims Places Network, to develop new projects in new areas. We are also always very keen to hear from any individual or organisation who might like to become a Quiet Garden host.
Our Values
Our values, which are intended to support mind, body and spiritual well-being, are:
Hospitality
Offering a warm hearted and simple welcome to all
Contemplation
Honouring the Christian contemplative tradition – the practice of silence, stillness, meditation and prayer
Nature connection
Encouraging a deepening of our relationship with the natural world
Creativity
Valuing the link between inner stillness and creativity
The Quiet Garden Movement is co-ordinated by the Quiet Garden Trust, a registered charity which relies on donations for its ongoing work. The trust is run by a small team of employees, supported by a board of trustees. We’re here to offer advice, support and encouragement to Quiet Garden hosts and to facilitate awareness of the network and its individual gardens.
Our team
Meet our Quiet Garden team…
Testimonials
Take a look at what people say about our Quiet Gardens…
History
Learn about how we started…