Category: Uncategorized
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The Beauty of Ravilious’ Garden Pattern Collection
We went to the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne at the weekend – it was raining so not really garden visiting weather – and what a treat to visit the Eric Ravilious exhibition there. One thing I was completely taken with was the Garden pattern collection of plates, cups and jugs Ravilious designed for Wedgewood in…
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The Green World of Brown – an exhibition
I’m very proud to have four poems about the English landscape gardener, Lancelot Brown, featured in the exhibition, the Green World of Brown, which is on now at Weston Park until 26th September. Organised by the photographer Allan Pollok-Morris (do follow his insta page, his images are beautiful), the mixed-media exhibition features “artists and craftspeople:…
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Discovering St Paul’s Church: A Hidden Gem in London
St Paul’s Church, aka The Actors’ Church, Bedford St, London You may have seen the entrance to this church yourself. I have – many times – but I normally have somewhere to go, an appointment I’m late for, but the other week I stopped. And I’m so glad I did. St Paul’s church is known…
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The lost Botanical Garden of Siena
If you’re thinking, hmmm that photo above doesn’t look like a garden, you are quite right. But when we went searching for the Sienna Botanical Gardens on a recent trip this is where the map took us. There was a patch of grass outside that didn’t look exactly botanical so we soon gave up. (The…
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Exploring Balloonomania: Paris’s 18th Century Craze
I was lucky enough to spend lots of time in Paris last year, and fell in love with the Musee Carnavalet. There were lots of insta influencers taking photos in the garden there, just as I imagine there would have been when Balloonomania hit Paris in 1783, when the Montgolfier brothers first took to the…
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Ripple: an artwork in the Kent landscape
The most beautiful bench, poetry and Samuel Palmer I was so pleased to be given the chance recently by the talented sculptor James Tunnard to submit some work for a bench he had been commissioned to make for Lullingstone Country Park. James was inspired by the park, the landscape and also the artist, Samuel Palmer,…
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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 taking extra care of my house plants recently. So it’s a joy to revisit this gorgeous New Yorker documentary video of Ched and Maria Markovic’s shop, the Noble Plant shop in New York. As with…
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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 campus because it disappeared yesterday. I know. I know. It’s infuriating when that happens. In fact, I thought I probably should never post this, too late again, but then I remembered that things in gardens…
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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 sleeping when I visited Paris last week, so instead I followed a rather wonderful honey dance through the internet – rather like the bees do to tell their fellow bees where the best pollen is…
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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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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 their blossom, their growing leaves, and most of all how they stand so strong. I need that right now. But there’s something else I’ve noticed during lockdown which is how I’m watching time move through…
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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 nature and its beauty back to where it belongs. I was dismayed recently to search for ‘Yellowhammer’ only to wade through a full page of political jargon before I got to the bird. Really? So…