Butterfly Garden

‘’For now my little butterfly has floated far away, until we meet again my child, I look forward to that day’’

The Butterfly Garden is a special memorial garden dedicated to those who have suffered baby loss. The courtyard has been created in collaboration between the hospital’s maternity team and bereavement specialists alongside the hospital’s Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP), which represents those who have experienced the loss of their baby either during pregnancy or shortly after birth. This space enables you to place a delicate butterfly in the peaceful garden, with a suspended heart engraved with your message of remembrance for your baby.

A picture of the butterfly garden with the bench and mural in view

A picture of a woman and a child gently holding a flower that a butterfly is sitting on

The Butterfly Garden has been funded through donations and fundraising by the QEHKL Charity, and will be filled with an array of metal hand-forged purple butterflies each bearing a special message. This space offers those who are grieving a place of remembrance and reflection. A pathway weaves through specially selected symbolic purple borders with private spaces and benches as well as a centrepiece sculpture and poetry installation.

Artist blacksmith Nigel Barnett created butterflies based on the Norfolk Butterfly. He has also created a central focal point that works with the design mapped out by landscapers Gavin Jones, alongside a special metal bench that is engraved with a poem selected by MNVP and Team QEH. Our butterflies have the option to add an engraved small love heart which hangs from the butterfly and flutters in the wind. Each butterfly has been designed and galvanised to ensure that it can withstand outdoor weather without rusting and the butterflies can be placed in the Butterfly Garden, with the opportunity to take home at a later time, or can be posted to you directly.

The garden is part of the Butterfly Suite at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital which opened in 2022 and provides a comforting, supportive bereavement space for parents to be able to say goodbye to their little ones in a quiet and private setting.

To complete the online form, please click here.

For more info about the project, please email [email protected].

If you need support to fulfil the donation request but would still like a butterfly, please do talk to our Bereavement Midwife on 07966883115 or email [email protected] who would be more than happy to talk through all of our options of support.