Influencers spend 12 days on Moana-themed garden

Green-fingered influencers said they will never forget the moment they revealed a Moana-themed garden to children at a hospice.

The Green Genie brothers, Jake and Ethan Thorne, had just 12 days to build the garden at Little Haven's Hospice in Benfleet, Essex, thanks to funding from Walt Disney Company UK and Ireland.

The pair have one million followers on Instagram and build luxury landscapes that can take them months to complete.

Jake Thorne, said: "In all the years we've built gardens together, that one moment we will never forget, seeing those children's faces when they walked through here - it was a very emotional day for us."

The brothers had two days to plan and prepare the project, which turned the garden from an area that originally just contained swings, into an oasis-inspired beach.

Among the first to experience the garden was six-year-old Millie, who has been supported by the hospice since 2021.

Millie was one when she was diagnosed with the muscle disorder, Congenital Myopathy.

While speaking to BBC Look East, she said: "I love that I can drive around the garden in my wheelchair."

The new live-action film adaptation of Disney's Moana was released on 10 July and the garden opened to the children not long before that.

The hospice cares for babies, children, and young people up to the age of 25 who are living with complex or incurable conditions.

Little Havens gets 80% of its income from public donations and all of that goes into the children's care.

Louise Bryan, CEO for Havens Hospices said she thought the call from Walt Disney was a prank, but jumped at the chance once she was certain it wasn't a joke.

She said: "It was something we couldn't afford ourselves.

"The children are so excited by it - it means so much to them to have a space just for them."

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