EDEN’S KEEPERS

It would be very easy to draw up a long list of well-known gardeners who were queer, from Horace Walpole and Béatrice de Rothschild to Beverley Nichols and Vita Sackville-West. But is there a link between sexuality and creating a garden?  Have the imaginations and energies of people whose private lives have placed them outside society’s norms been redirected toward designing gardens? Why is it that queer gardeners have been so influential in the formation of gardening taste?

In the first of a series on this theme, the biographer and historian Peter Parker will be discussing these questions with three authors who have studied sexuality and gardening in the 20th Century: Nicola Shulman on the eccentric plant hunter and writer Reginald Farrer; Hugh St Clair on the painter and plantsman Cedric Morris; and Sarah Barclay on the artist and garden designer Humphrey Waterfield.

Brilliant English Gardens

Join Clive Nichols in Cirencester at his lecture day in which he will talk all about photographing plants and gardens.

Clive Nichols has been photographing gardens for over 30 years. He has photographed many of the world’s best gardens including King Charles’s own private garden, Birkhall, in Scotland. His passion for the subject comes across in every image that he makes and he will take us through the inspirational gardens he knows and loves. His work has appeared in hundreds of books as well as in countless magazines, calendars and brochures. Clive regularly gives master classes in flower and garden photography for The Royal Horticultural Society and The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He has published two books on how to photograph gardens and flowers in association with the Royal Horticultural Society and in 2022 was selected to deliver the headline speech to 17,000 members of the Garden Club of America via zoom. His latest book ‘Brilliant English Gardens’ was published by Clearview Books in October 2022.

Booking link

Eden’s Keepers

Join the Essex WI and Sarah Barclay, author of Eden’s Keepers, for their first sponsored blue plaque unveiling for the Essex WI, in which Sarah will be unveiling the plaque for Nancy Tennant.

Link to the event

Entertaining Lives

Join Jane Churchill in conversation with the Chiltern American Women’s Club, where she will be discussing her book Entertaining Lives.

Eden’s Keepers

Join Sarah Barlcay at Winchester Books Festival where she will be giving a talk on her book Eden’s Keepers discussing the lives go Humphrey Waterfield and Nancy Tennant and their unconventional love.

Watch Sarah’s pre-talk interview HERE

LINK TO THE EVENT

Entertaining Lives

Jane Churchill and Emily Astor will be speaking at a private members event for The Lunar Club at the In and Out Club.

Discovering the Meaning of Flowers / A Year in Flowers

Join Shane Connolly at Perch Hill Farm with Sarah Raven for a day of magnificent flowers at no cost to the earth.

Shane will spend the first part of the morning discussing what sustainable really means in terms of flower sourcing and the mechanics you use. He'll talk about how to use flowers botanically, where each stem of each variety speaks for itself and with it’s own unique character. He'll also focus on Green Flowers - low carbon footprint is the way forward with flowers, and foraging in the garden and hedgerows is often the answer. Spend some time wandering around the gardens at Perch Hill with both Shane and Sarah, learning how best to pick for maximum effect and minimum cost to the environment. See the narcissi at their peak as well as many of the early flowering tulips. In the afternoon learn from Shane how to use what has been picked stylishly, whether it's for every day in the house or for a special occasion.   

Link to event here

Eden’s Keepers

Join Sarah Barclay at Oxford Literary Festival giving a talk on her new book Eden’s Keepers, alongside Charles Spicer, author of Coffee with Hitler.

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Winter Gardens

Join Petersham Nurseries at 6pm for a drinks reception and discussion with photographer Andrew Montgomery and Garden Editor of House & Garden, Clare Foster, to celebrate the second edition launch of their book, Winter Gardens. Andrew and Clare will discuss how the book came about and how it has changed their perceptions of winter gardens with accompanying photographs from the book.

Exhibition pieces will be available for sale on the evening along with signed copies of the book.

Link to the event

About ‘Winter Gardens’

Andrew Montgomery’s exquisite photographs present the winter garden through a new lens, highlighting shape, texture and structure, and celebrating the elements that make these gardens as beautiful in winter as they are throughout the rest of the year. With a foreword by renowned garden designer Dan Pearson, the book contains full page photographs exploring twelve extraordinary gardens, some designed by well-known designers such as Arne Maynard, Arabella Lennox-Boyd, Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart- Smith.

Accompanying essays and interviews are written by Clare Foster who explores the history, design and planting of each garden, along with practical notes on topics from topiary and seed heads to winter blooms.

Eden’s Keepers

Join Sarah Barlcay for an online Zoom talk with the Essex Women’s Institute, in which she will be discussing her book Eden’s Keepers and Nancy Tenant who was born in Ugley who, after the first World War, devoted herself to music and to the Women's Institute, which was a new organisation at the time. As the music organiser from 1938 for the National Federation of Women's Institutes, her enthusiasm led to the creation of WI choirs from all around the country.

Eden’s Keepers

Join Sarah Barclay at The Sloane Club giving a Q&A with Louisa Symington on her new book Eden’s Keepers.

Brilliant English Gardens

Join Clive Nichols in the Tipi at Preston Bissett Nursery, where he will be signing copies of his new book Brilliant English Gardens. The perfect pre-Christmas event.

Brilliant English Gardens

Clive Nichols will be at York Gate signing copies of his new book Brilliant English Gardens and will be joined by Alistair Baldwin, international garden designer, whose work features in the book.

INVITATION

Pre-event coverage from yorkshire.com

Pre-event coverage from Yorkshire Times

New Hall

Book Launch celebrating Kate Holt and Charlotte Eager’s new book New Hall at the luxury hotel, New Hall Hotel & Spa