CPRE’s RHS Chelsea Garden to Relocate to Sheffield’s Park Hill

A RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden marking the centenary of The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) will find its permanent home at Park Hill in Sheffield.

• In CPRE’s Centenary year, the charity has brought the countryside to RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 with an ‘edgelands’-inspired show garden by award-winning designer Sarah Eberle, supported by Project Giving Back.
• On the Edge shines a light on the overlooked countryside at the edges of our towns and cities – showing how, with the right care, these places can recover and thrive.
• On the Edge has been awarded a prestigious Gold Medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 and Garden of the Year in the Show Garden category.

CPRE’s award‑winning On the Edge garden, designed by renowned landscape designer Sarah Eberle, will be permanently relocated to Sheffield’s Park Hill following its appearance at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The move will give the celebrated garden a lasting home in the city and transform a community space at one of Sheffield’s most iconic landmarks.

Created to highlight the fragile but vital landscapes that sit between town and countryside, On the Edge draws attention to the often‑overlooked edgelands that quietly connect people with nature. For CPRE, the garden is a call to recognise and protect the everyday countryside that surrounds us.

A new chapter at Park Hill

After the Chelsea Flower Show, the garden will be carefully dismantled and reimagined at Park Hill – the landmark housing development regenerated by Urban Splash and Places for People. The relocation continues the legacy of countryside pioneer Ethel Haythornthwaite, one of CPRE’s earliest champions and a driving force behind the creation of the Sheffield Green Belt.

Park Hill, originally built in the 1960s, has undergone a major transformation in recent years, becoming a vibrant neighbourhood of new homes, student accommodation, amenities and green spaces.

Speaking on behalf of the joint venture, Sian Stanhope said: “We’re genuinely thrilled to be partnering with CPRE and the wider team on this project. It will provide Park Hill residents with a beautiful new space to enjoy, enhancing and building on the landscaped areas we’ve already created.”

Once rebuilt, the garden will become a lasting green space for residents and visitors, a place for gathering, reflection and connection with nature.

The garden features a striking land art centrepiece: a guardian figure of Mother Nature, or Gaia, partly carved from fallen mature trees by champion chainsaw artist Chris Wood. Willow hair, created by west Wales-based sculptor Tom Hare, flows from the figure to form the top of a dry-stone wall that snakes through generous, naturalistic planting. A winding path leads under Gaia’s arched torso to a sheltered central space with stone seating and a water trough, designed for community gathering or quiet contemplation.

That dry-stone wall is being built by siblings Lydia and Cuthbert Noble of Noble Stonework, fifth-generation stone wallers from Holmfirth in West Yorkshire. Their work will be among the elements that make the journey from Chelsea to Sheffield, stone by stone, helping ensure the garden’s materials and craftsmanship continue to serve a lasting purpose.

For the people creating the garden, its second life is an essential part of its story.

Lydia Noble said: ‘It’s always really nice when gardens get relocated. It means they’re going to be there for lots of other people to see and enjoy. And particularly for us with it going to Sheffield, I was born in Sheffield, so it’s a nice touch.’

Heather Crompton, who is helping carve the central Gaia sculpture with artist Chris Wood, grew up in Sheffield and remembers the powerful presence of Park Hill in the city’s story: ‘It’s really nice to do something that’s going to end up somewhere I have some sense of belonging to,’ she said. ‘People I know will be able to visit it, and that feels really special.’

Sian Stanhope said ‘Park Hill carries such rich history and heritage, so it’s especially meaningful to know that Ethel Haythornthwaite had connections to this place and that, combined with the Yorkshire craftsmanship involved in creating the garden, makes this a truly special moment for both the estate and Park Hill residents.’

After relocating to Park Hill, the garden will be open for the local residents to use and enjoy.