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Reading Gardens 
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
Gardens and attractive open spaces are good for your mental health and general wellbeing, and are great for encouraging reading for pleasure. Research shows that the right environment matters to many readers, and that reading in gardens and parks is uniquely enjoyable. Reading is a sociable as well as private pleasure, and we know that the more public and accessible spaces there are which encourage and celebrate reading, the more of us are likely to read, share our reading, and encourage others to do the same.
Click here for the Reading Gardens Toolkit.
Or try here for Ideas for Reading Outdoors.
What makes a garden a 'Reading Garden?'
A reading garden could be a hammock slung up under a large shade-providing tree, or an outdoor classroom with room for everyone to sit. Whoever the garden or open space will be used by, it should be an environment that is conducive to, and heightens the enjoyment of, reading and will have the following features:
- Somewhere to sit, either for one-to-one reading or for reading in groups. Allow approximately 1.5m x 1.5m for a bench for one-to-one reading and approximately 10 square metres (for example, about 3.5m x 3m) for seating 10-15 children and an adult in an informal group.
- A feeling of enclosure - the garden should engender a feeling of safety, and should provide privacy, shade and shelter.
