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Magic and mountains and cakes….
Once I stayed in a haunted house after a literary festival in Scotland. It was so haunted, in fact, that…
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Plants and love lessons
Maybe because it’s been too wet here in the UK to be out much in the garden, but I’ve been…
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The Quiet Enchanting on London’s Strand
Shhh… you’ll have to listen even harder at the moment to hear the artwork whispering to you outside King’s Strand…
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Buzzing in the Jardin du Luxembourg
Apparently the purest honey in France comes from Paris. Who knew? Well, the bees do, I guess, but they were…
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An autumn walk with some outdoors creative writing prompts
Getting inspiration from nature with creative writing prompts
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So how does a ‘virtual’ writer in residence work?
Last year I was lucky enough to be invited to be one of the writers in residence at the Alde…
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The power of a list – a creative writing exercise for gardeners
I don’t know about you but I’ve been loving the trees at the moment. I’m hungry for them – for…
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Creative writing exercises for gardeners – we’re on again!
I started doing prompts for creative writing particularly designed for gardeners a little while ago but then life took over.…
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Stepping insideThe Yellowhammer’s Nest
It’s National Poetry Day today – and for this, I wanted to take at least one of our words about…
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Creative Writing Wednesday – week 5. The smellograph…
this is a smellograph, the delicacy of rose surrendering to rain I went out into my garden this morning just…
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Creative writing exercise, week 4 – writing your own instructions
The late great Toni Morrison famously said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been…
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Creative Writing exercise, week 3 – listening for inspiration
Shhh… what do you hear? A simple writing prompt for you today – just sit out in the garden (enjoying…
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Creative writing in the garden, Week 2
If last week’s prompt was all about memories, this second writing prompt is all about looking forward in time. Imagine…
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The risk of blossoming, and a little nyctinasty
I’ve been obsessed with plants that open and close recently (or more properly, nyctinasty). My new baby passion flower for…
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Week 1 of Writing in the Garden – a free creative writing exercise
Hello! I had such a lovely response to my recent article in the RHS Garden magazine on reading and writing…
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A Trip to Tropical Tresco
See whatttttt I did there? We’ve just come back from the Isles of Scilly, it was the perfect holiday but…
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Ready for your close up?
God but flowers are amazing. How are we not worshipping them daily? All these were taken today at Great Dixter…
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Why gardeners should read (and write) poetry
It was Cicero who said that if you have a garden and a library you want for nothing, and I’m…
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The News From the Garden
is earthshattering, a blackbird’s made its nest in the hawthorn tree, and breaking as I write, seedlings planted a month…
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A garden poem for meditation – walking in Stand Wood above Chatsworth House
We were too early to get into Chatsworth House so walked up to the Hunting Tower in Stand Wood while…
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What do you do with all your garden guides?
We went on a ‘grand tour’ of the Peak District and Yorkshire last week – only one garden a day…
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Gods, jade and sulphur – the Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens in St Lucia
Looking out at grey skies today, it’s a joy to go back through posts from just a month ago and…
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Snowdrops rising like lanterns
Winter Garden by Sarah Salway Like the pilgrim divests himself of worldly goods, the garden’s stripped back to a…
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Remembering Capability Brown – Lady Nature’s Second Husband – and a little bit of Compton Verney
The English landscape gardener, Lancelot (Capability) Brown died 236 years ago today, 6th February 1783 – and fittingly is remembered…
Writer In The Garden 