DeBarneville CSR - The Temple Garden

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The Temple Garden Project (click to enlarge images)

The Hindu Temple in Southampton's heart, has a derelict play area. It looks unsightly, with bits of broken concrete lying about and is subject to vandalism.

Exotic gardens have been associated with temples in India since ancient times. Traditionally every plant represents a different deity, giving a strong ecological message and reinforcing the link between spirituality and nature. Additionally, temple gardens serve as places of refuge and conserve biodiversity by preserving a variety of trees and plants.

The empty grassland needs development to turn it into a place of harmony and the students of Sparsholt College have produced several beautiful garden designs to achieve this. These were presented to the Temple Committee, who short-listed three. Community members have been asked to vote and the most popular design will be chosen for development.
Please help this project by voting below, for the design you like best. Please click the images to enlarge them.

Design One: Rangoli
by Nick Wooldridge

Design Two: OM-saic
by John Liddeatt

Design Three: Journey
by Vanessa Preston

Click here to Vote for Design 1

Click here to Vote for Design 2

Click here to Vote for Design 3

Design based on Rangoli which is reflected in the ground layout. Various seating areas are located within the design to encourage users of the garden to rest or meet with friends.

Designed to meet the varying requirements of the Temple users, it includes a raised herb bed, an Om sculpture and a mosaic Hindu calendar.

Primarily designed to be low maintenance the circular design encourages visiters to take a journey through the garden or to rest and enjoy the sound of the pebble water feature.

Much of the physical work will be carried out by teams from the Hampshire Probation Service as part of unpaid work by offenders in the Community Payback scheme. The aim of this scheme is to encourage local ownership and to show how offenders can help make their communities better.

Various organisations are being approached for help with materials and we will be updating these pages with further details as the project progresses.

This project is not driven by any political, religious or other agenda. Every effort has been made to maintain neutrality in preparing the material obtained from various official sources. As part of DeBarneville's service to the community, DeBarneville seeks to inform and provides links to external websites, but is not responsible for their content, nor for any alterations.

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