Nature Garden De Wending

Discover this beautiful ecological and educational care garden within the ring of Turnhout. The garden is located between the General Hospital Campus Sint-Elisabeth and the Care Home De Wending. The garden is part of the Care Home De Wending of Zorggroep Orion.
The garden covers 3 ha, is quite young in its establishment but already has a rich variety of species and biotopes.
You will find flower meadows interspersed with grass areas, a herb-rich indoor garden, a vegetable room with a greenhouse, a fruit room with soft fruit, an orchard with hayland, a pond, and a wadi. The water features are not yet fully completed, but you can, with a bit of luck, enjoy the flight of the first dragonflies that found their way to the pond. The garden shows how a varied mowing management provides more color and experience. Extra elements such as a bee hotel, chicken coop, wigloo, and compost area demonstrate how creativity can create an engaging and attractive garden for yourself and for animals and plants.

The mowing management and the management of the hedges are currently a bit behind, but we will catch up in the coming weeks.

The garden is fully wheelchair accessible thanks to the hardened paths. Benches along the paths provide a nice resting spot.
The Nature Garden shows how nature and health and well-being go hand in hand. Due to the rich biodiversity, you can fully experience nature in the garden. Besides the walking residents, you can spot the Icarus blue (a beautiful small blue butterfly that prefers to lay its eggs on tufted vetch) these days. The Icarus blue is the new adopted species of the City of Turnhout.
The garden is an important slow connection from the center of Turnhout to the City Park. A real green stepping stone for people and nature.
Various groups are involved in the maintenance: a volunteer team with people from Route 11, Natuurpunt Turnhoutse Kempen, seniors from the care home, local residents, OKAN students combined with a social employment team from MIVAS. The garden came about participatively: everyone who wanted to contributed ideas for the design and helped with the establishment and maintenance. The garden received support from the Flemish Land Agency and the Regional Landscape of Kleine and Grote Nete.
Come and enjoy a delicious sample from the garden!

Extra info:
Activity for children: sowing.
The Nature Garden De Wending is wheelchair accessible, as is the cafeteria of the Care Home De Wending (Zorggroep Orion).
Dogs are only allowed in the Nature Garden on a leash in the designated areas.
The garden is easily accessible on foot or by bike.

Natuur.tuin Turnhout