Royal green thumb

THE Chelsea Flower Show, which opened on Monday and closes today, is the most prestigious event in Britain’s gardening calendar. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, designed a woodland garden of her own for the event.

She released new pictures of her family playing in the wilderness garden she designed on social media.

Co-created with landscape artists Andree Davies and Adam White, Kate’s “Back to Nature Garden” includes a rope swing, a tree house and a stream with waterfalls.

Her office said Kate, wife of Prince William, was a strong advocate of the mental and physical benefits that nature and the outdoors have on children and adults alike.

“It’s a natural space, a really exciting space, for kids and adults alike to share and explore,” she said before the opening of the garden on Monday.

“I really feel that nature, being interactive outdoors, has huge benefits on physical and mental wellbeing, particularly for young kiddies,” the princess added.

In a video posted on their Instagram account, the couple’s three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, can be seen playing on the swing by a wooden den and scrambling barefoot through a stream.

Louis, who celebrated his first birthday last month, can be seen walking for the first time and waving a stick.

Kate said she had been focusing on early childhood development in her recent charity work.

“I believe that spending time outdoors when we are young can play a role in laying the foundations for children to become happy, healthy adults,” she said. | Reuters