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The garden

This garden celebrates the life of Julia Rausing, a British philanthropist and devoted garden lover whose work supported a wide range of charitable causes across the UK. Julia sadly died in 2024, but in her lifetime she helped raise over £400 million for a multitude of projects, primarily focused on health, homelessness and youth initiatives. The generosity of her work and spirit is reflected in this design.

Situated at the head of the lake, with views back towards Badminton House, this sanctuary takes inspiration from the surrounding pastoral setting. A wildflower meadow dotted with Tilia × europaea (common lime) species encloses a more intimate flower garden. Here, a woodland edge with multi-stemmed trees is arranged around a central terrace and a low fountain, from which the wider parkland can be seen. The trees are underplanted with drought-tolerant herbaceous perennials, while low yew mounds are scattered through the garden as a structural counterpoint to the softness of the planting. 

Conceived as a space for everyone, The Julia Rausing Garden invites visitors to enjoy the beauty of the landscape and consider its message about supporting others. Uplifting and welcoming, it embodies everything Julia believed in. 

The planting

Resilient plants are designed to cope with increased climatic extremes, with soil adjustments, such as gravel and rock areas. There are two distinct planting zones – a woodland edge planting scheme among multi-stem trees and a dry meadow planting scheme.

Key plants:

• Veronicastrum virginicum ‘E°ù¾±³¦²¹â€™ (Culver’s root)

• Echinacea pallida (pale purple coneflower)

• Scabiosa (scabious)

• Lythrum salicaria ‘S·É¾±°ù±ô’ (purple loosestrife)

• Tilia × europaea (common lime)

Plants supplied by:

The designer â€“ 

Tom Stuart-Smith is a landscape architect and garden designer whose work combines naturalism with modernity and built forms with romantic planting based on close observation of nature. He read Zoology at the University of Cambridge before completing a postgraduate degree in Landscape Design at Manchester University. Tom has since designed gardens, parks and landscapes throughout the world.

The garden legacy

After the show, the lime trees will be replanted at Badminton Estate and at the home of Sir Hans Rausing in Gloucestershire. There will be a plant sale of the herbaceous plants used in the garden with the proceeds to be donated to the charity Horatio’s Garden.