This is the last month in my year of photographing the George V Memorial Garden in Hayle which lies alongside the Copperhouse tidal pool, a reminder of Hayle’s heyday during the Industrial Revolution and now home to a rich variety of birdlife. This flat trail, about three quarters of a mile long, goes through former GWR land which was landscaped and planted as part of Hayle’s Millennium Project and won gold in the South West in Bloom competition. Throughout the year I have tried to photograph as many different plants as I can and identify them, though that has not always been successful. What I have discovered is the number of shrubs that are native to New Zealand. (Australian and South African plants are also planted in this sub-tropical garden, though some of these were lost in the unexpected snowfall of March 2018).
For this month I am featuring the Wednesday Wanderers Wall of Plants. The Wednesday Wanderers is a free creative walking, nature and ceramics project for people living with dementia. They meet weekly with carers and volunteers, walk in the Cornish landscape and use nature as inspiration for ceramic work made at Leach Pottery. The King George walk is one of their favourite locations and members were inspired to create something for Hayle in Bloom.
They researched Hayle’s history for the terracotta tile panel and made clay planters decorating them with natural materials such as seed heads, leaves and shells.
The project is run by a collaboration between Leach Pottery and the Sensory Trust.
George V Memorial Walk – December 31 2019
And here is a final look at the entire year: Click to scroll through the gallery
If you would like to see each month in more detail then please click on TheChangingSeasons tag below. I would like to thank everyone who has joined me in this project this year and I hope you have enjoyed the garden as much as I have. Happy New Year!
And I would like to take this opportunity to thank the lovely Su Leslie for hosting this challenge throughout the year. It is a lovely way to record the passing of the seasons.
The Changing Seasons | December
Cornwall in Colours 
What a group of treasures on the wall letting us know that despite their failing faculties art ability and joy survive. Thanks.
Oh I love those terracotta planters and immediately thought of hanging something similar on my fences, but of course any plant would probably fry! What a wonderful initiative to help dementia sufferers the Wednesday Wanderers is. Happy 2020 to you, Jude.
The planters are gorgeous, they ought to make some for sale, I know I’d buy some.
The ceramics are beautiful. Have a very happy new year:)
What a lovely project, Jude. The wall-hanging planters are a joy to see.
Best wishes, Pete. x
They are magnificent aren’t they?
I have enjoyed seeing your photographs over the year, what a great project. Those planters are fabulous.
So happy to learn about the Wednesday Wanderers group–what a lovely way to combine nature and art for healing. Your 2019 collage of photos is beautiful and so impressive– you should be very proud! Best wishes for 2020!
Thank you!
Ooh I love the terracotta work!
Me too. They should make and sell these, I would buy a few.