The Serge Hill Project for Gardening, Creativity and Health is very much a family affair. The not-for-profit enterprise that opened in June 2024, just north of London’s thundering ring road, the M25, is the brainchild of the internationally renowned landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and his psychotherapist wife, Sue. Meanwhile, its stunning central building, the Apple House, was designed by their architect son, Ben, as part of the architecture and design collective Okra. Let’s take a closer look.
Photography by Jiaji Wu.
Situated in an old disused orchard on the family estate that was originally bought by Tom’s grandfather in 1927, the garden is, at its heart, a community project, conceived as a resource for local schools, youth groups, local residents, and charities, including the Sunnyside Rural Trust, which provides horticultural training for people with learning disabilities. Here, the Trust has an onsite nursery where they raise plants for sale. (Long before the opening of Serge Hill Project, Tom had collaborated with the Trust, when they grew the herbaceous plants for his 2021 show garden at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show.) Serge Hill Project has vegetable plots as well for the local community, and one for Tom’s studio staff, too, who often cook and eat together.
At the center of the orchard is the stunning Apple House, which was built entirely from natural materials, including hempcrete walls, with oak cladding (sourced from a nearby forest) and flooring made from unfired clay tiles. The imposing structure—just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside—serves as a gathering place for visiting groups as well as a venue for talks, workshops, and symposia. (So far the Apple House has hosted two events: a two-day workshop on using earth in architecture and landscape, and a day-long one on gardens and health.)
