In 2023 we decided to create a specific Silent Space in the garden for any visitors, and indeed ourselves.
Our garden is rural and usually a very quiet and peaceful place, with only small numbers of visitors annually. The idea of dedicating a specific area for making time to just sit, listen and observe for a few minutes at a time, came to us after we’d spent time sitting quietly in the Silent Space at Hidcote Gardens in late 2022.
After more thought and discussion with Liz Ware, the founder and guiding light of the charity Silent Space, and discussing the idea with a few friends and relatives, we initially decided to focus on two existing seating areas in the garden to create our Silent Space, which we’ll highlight with a small blackboard.
These areas were either the muse stone seat beneath our old oak tree behind the main barn, (above) or our shepherd’s hut at the top of our upper hay meadow.
After trialling the idea through the beginning of 2023, we’ve settled on using the shepherd’s hut as the best location, whatever the weather or time of year. (Thanks to Wig for suggesting this!)
Even if it does mean a stiff climb up longevity hill to reach it. 
We’ve found that many of our visitors value this chance to sit down, stop talking, and temporarily turn off their phones and cameras. Just to take a few moments to quietly look and listen to the sights and sounds around them. Some also choose to interact with our Thought Box, which always delights Julian, who had the idea to incorporate this into our Silent Space.
We also ask any other visitors in this part of the garden to be mindful of anyone enjoying such a moment of silence and reflection.
Of course, you don’t have to stop and do this, but as you can see on this page of the Silent Space website, many visitors to gardens with Silent Spaces seem to value this encouragement to pause and reflect in a quiet environment with no distractions. A rare opportunity in our often frantic lives.
For more information about visiting the garden at Gelli Uchaf, please click here.
