ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the psychology has several possible explanations for the phenomenon of time standing still in the garden. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) has been one of the few psychological approaches to specifically identify gardens and gardening as part of the natural environment. The restorative quality also relates to the presence or absence of social relationships in these activities and environments. Restoration requires an interaction between place and person, garden and gardener, and feeling restored implies having previously been in some way depleted, or overloaded, which the environment can change. ART identified four key factors that environments need to be able to provide in order to restore attention and proposes that these are particularly associated with nearby nature. The four factors are being way, extent, fascination and compatibility. Mindfulness is effective in treating symptoms of stress and anxiety in healthy people and as a means of restoring emotional well-being.
