Award winning rainforest garden from Chelsea Flower Show takes root at Bristol Zoo Project

An award-winning rainforest garden has opened to the public at Bristol Zoo Project, bringing rainforest landscapes to the Bristol area for the first time.

Set within a site seven times larger than its original RHS Chelsea Flower Show footprint, the Wildlife Trusts’ British Rainforest Garden is a vibrant and immersive showcase of The Wildlife Trusts and Aviva’s ambitious 100-year Temperate Rainforest Programme.

The garden features a canopy of native trees created from hazels, field maples and silver birch, with lush undergrowth, lichen-encrusted trunks, honeysuckle and ivy. The garden is wheelchair accessible with seating, enabling visitors to soak up the experience, and signage about temperate rainforests – one of the UK’s rarest and most precious habitats.

Designed by Zoe Claymore and sponsored by grant-giving charity Project Giving Back, the garden’s first outing was at the 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, where it won a coveted RHS People’s Choice award in the All About Plants category.

It was then carefully rehomed by Bristol Zoological Society, the conservation and education charity which runs Bristol Zoo Project, supported by 30 Aviva volunteers. It can be found in the zoo’s Sanctuary Garden just opposite the old herbaceous border from Bristol Zoo Gardens, which has been moved across to Bristol Zoo Project.

Brian Zimmerman, Director of Conservation and Science at Bristol Zoological Society, says: “We are thrilled that Bristol Zoo Project has become the new home for the British Rainforest Garden. It has been fascinating to see it taking shape in our Sanctuary Garden in recent weeks, ahead of the grand opening. We hope it will give visitors an opportunity to reflect on the health and wellbeing benefits natural habitats can bring, as well as the importance of these precious environments. We look forward to seeing the garden mature and grow, and the enjoyment it will bring to so many people.”

The Wildlife Trusts are supported by the UK’s leading diversified insurer Aviva, whose backing has enabled the charity to share the rainforest story on a national stage.

In February 2023, Aviva partnered with the Wildlife Trusts on the Atlantic Rainforest Restoration Programme, a 100-year initiative to restore Britain's temperate rainforests. At the time, Aviva’s £38 million pledge was one of the UK's largest ever corporate donations into nature conservation.

Zoe Claymore, award-winning garden designer, says: “Seeing the British Rainforest Garden find a permanent home at Bristol Zoo Project feels incredibly special. This garden was designed to spark wonder and connection, to remind people that rainforests aren’t just faraway places, but part of our own landscape here in Britain. It’s exciting this garden will grow alongside this fantastic 100—year programme to safeguard these rainforests for the future.”

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says: “Our beautiful rainforest garden richly deserves this opportunity to shine again. I can’t think of a better new home for it than this wonderful zoo, where it’ll have a chance to mature and grow and where generations of children will be able to play in it and learn about our natural world.”

Claudine Blamey, Chief Sustainability Officer at Aviva, says: “The relocation of the rainforest garden to Bristol will mean the public can spend time in a rare, yet magical, environment and see how important it is to preserve our natural British habitats. Thank you to the team at Bristol Zoo Project for bringing a taste of temperate rainforests to Bristol, helping the community get ready for the future by ensuring these threatened habits are not consigned to the past.”