Award-winning garden designer Angus Thompson returns to RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 with the Asthma + Lung UK Breathing Space Garden, a tranquil woodland-edge retreat, to help visitors slow down, breathe deeply and discover the restorative power of nature.
Sponsored by grant-giving charity Project Giving Back, the garden is inspired by the voices of people living with lung conditions – for whom every breath can feel uncertain. Its design reflects their strength, resilience, and need for a calm, supportive ‘breathing space’ in which to recover and reconnect with themselves and nature.
Angus Thompson, who has won an RHS Gold medal with a previous RHS Chelsea Gardens, has a deeply personal connection to Asthma + Lung UK’s work. His wife, Kate Binnie, provides breathing therapy groups for the charity and supports people with lung conditions in palliative care. Their daughter lives with Asthma and Kate’s mother also lived with severe breathlessness. The garden’s contractor, Dan Flynn, also recently lost his own mother to a lung condition. These shared experiences have shaped the garden’s empathy-led design.
“We want this garden to raise awareness of the invisible impact of breathlessness,” says Angus. “One in five people in the UK will develop a lung condition in their lifetime. I hope visitors to RHS Chelsea will view our garden and pause, notice their breathing, and experience a moment of calm and clarity.”
The Beauty of Empty Space
Influenced by the Japanese principle of yohaku no bi — the beauty of empty space — the garden embraces stillness and simplicity. At its heart sits the Breathing Space Platform, an elegant and sheltered area for yoga, tai chi, or quiet reflection.
A soothing planting palette of predominately greens and whites, carefully selected low-allergen planting, and innovative low-carbon landscape materials, together highlight the importance of clean air and lung health.
A Living Legacy for Lung Health
Following RHS Chelsea, the garden will be permanently relocated to the specialist Breathing Space lung rehabilitation centre in Rotherham – one of the UK’s worst-affected areas for lung-related hospital admissions – supported by Asthma + Lung UK. There it will offer therapeutic support for people living with lung conditions, as well as a place of respite for the staff and caregivers who support them.
Sarah Sleet, Chief Executive at Asthma + Lung UK said: “We are thrilled to work with Angus and Project Giving Back on this inspiring garden. Access to green space is proven to support both mental and physical wellbeing, yet not everyone has that privilege. Too many communities, especially those in more deprived areas, face barriers to healthy lungs and green open spaces.”
“For people living with lung conditions, every breath can feel uncertain. We hope the Asthma + Lung UK - Breathing Space Garden inspires reflection on how vital it is to breathe freely. We would love the garden to motivate visitors to encourage and support projects that green-up our polluted cities and help promote clean air for all, helping us to close the lung health gap across the UK.”
For Further information about Asthma + Lung UK please visit www.asthmaandlung.org.uk
Media enquiries
For more information about the RHS Chelsea Show Garden, please contact: Jane Southcott pr e: jane@janesouthcottpr.co.uk m: 07787 527430
For more information about Asthma + Lung UK please contact: Sophia Khan e: skhan@asthmaandlung.org.uk
About Angus Thomson Design
Angus Thompson runs an award-winning landscape and garden design practice based in Oxford with projects across the UK.
Angus graduated from the Inchbald School of Garden Design, London, receiving the Principal’s Award in 2004. Awards include the Gold Medal-winning 'Nature Ascending' garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2009. Angus has developed a reputation for creating beautiful, multilayered gardens of quiet elegance and his uncluttered design approach is best described as ‘quietly contemporary’, exploring natural plant communities and materials with crisp detailing, textural contrasts and reflective water.
Angus and his team have a commitment to simplicity and sustainability. Through close collaboration with clients, architects, and interior designers, the team create spaces that reveal the true character and unique possibility of each site. For more information visit: www.angusthompsondesign.com
About Asthma + Lung UK
Asthma + Lung UK is the only charity in the UK fighting for everyone with a lung condition, aiming for a world where everyone can breathe with healthy lungs. We fund cutting-edge research, and provide advice and support for the 12 million people who will get a lung condition during their lifetime. We also campaign for clean air and for better NHS diagnosis and treatment. For further information visit asthmaandlung.org.uk.
About Project Giving Back
Project Giving Back (PGB) is a unique grant-making charity that provides funding for gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. PGB was launched in May 2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its devastating effects on UK charitable fundraising - effects that have since been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis. PGB will fund 11 gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2026 and will have funded a total of 63 gardens inspired by a range of good causes from 2022 to 2026. PGB funding offers UK-based good causes an opportunity to raise awareness of their work at the high-profile RHS Chelsea Flower Show, as well as supporting the relocation of the gardens to permanent homes after the show where they can continue to benefit the charities and their communities. Find out more at www.givingback.org.uk.