Writer In The Garden

Author: Sarah Salway

  • Margate Shell Grotto

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    Sarah Salway
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    Not a traditional garden in the lawn and flower style, but I’ve long been a fan of garden grottos (a passion inspired by a childhood gift of this book by Barbara Jones) so I have no problem in including Margate’s mysterious shell grotto in this tour – and if I need another excuse, just look…

  • Rosherville Gardens, Gravesham

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    Sarah Salway
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    Of course, it’s not possible to visit Rosherville Gardens any more, although in the 1840s and 1850s you might have been one of the hundreds of London visitors who travelled down to Kent by steamboat to visit these famous pleasure gardens. The gardens started with high academic aims, to be a place for the best…

  • The Grove, Tunbridge Wells

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    Sarah Salway
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    I should probably declare an interest. This park is my local – just a few hundred yards from my house, and one of the reasons I decided to move to Tunbridge Wells. It even has a pub that backs on to it, so you can bring drinks out and sit on the grass in the…

  • Seeds

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    Sarah Salway
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    Well, admittedly this isn’t a garden visit, but one thing I realised when walking round the gardens in Kent – the Garden, after all, of England – is how little actually comes from England. The ideas, the plants, even the gardeners. So here’s a poem about plant collectors that I spliced up with history (and…

  • Dane John Gardens, Canterbury

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    Sarah Salway
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    I haven’t just looked at garden-gardens on this tour and one of my intentions has always been to explore how public gardens can become private parts of the people who visit them. An extra space, if you like, so the parks in Canterbury were always going to be high on my list, particularly one with…

  • The Secret Gardens of Sandwich

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    Sarah Salway
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    I visited the Secret Gardens of Sandwich; and met its owner (or as he says, custodian), Dominic Parker, at the very beginning of this project. It was one of those beautiful January days where the sun makes up for any lack of warmth with interesting shadow play and breathtaking rays of light. (Mind you, the…