The establishment of a memorial garden in London was one of the main commemoration projects of the Great War Centenary. It is a gift from Flanders to thank the British people for their sacrifice in liberating our country. The garden serves as a permanent reminder of hope, peace, reconciliation, and international solidarity.
The Flanders Fields Memorial Garden, designed by Belgian architect Piet Blanckaert, is located at Wellington Barracks alongside the Guards Chapel and was solemnly opened on 6 November 2014 by both countries' Royal Families and then Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois.
The garden did not only bring together the military and officials from both countries: it provided a unique opportunity to twin British and Belgian schools for this project. In September 2013, soil from 70 military cemeteries and from the battlefields was gathered in sandbags by school children. That soil from Flanders Fields was then incorporated in the memorial garden, as a quintessential part of it, enhancing the garden's symbolic value.