Monthly Archives: July 2017

Batty’s arti-natural Principles

Posted on 29/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

The wonderfully named Batty Langley was a gardener’s son who followed in his fathers footsteps and then turned surveyor, landscape gardener, artificial stone maker, would-be architect and garden designer, as well as prolific author.  Well  he had to do something … Continue reading →

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Recording Britain

Posted on 22/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

War inspires artists,or rather requires artists, to produce propaganda, and many governments have used war artists to record a different take on what is going on to newscasts and documentary films.  Usually this is strident, but on other occasions much … Continue reading →

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Peter Smithers: Plantsman, Politician & Floral Pornographer

Posted on 15/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

Sir Peter Smithers [1913-2006] was an intelligence officer, a Tory politician, diplomat and above all a great gardener. “I regard gardening and planting as the other half of life, a counterpoint to the rough and tumble of politics,” he wrote. During his … Continue reading →

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Hulne Priory

Posted on 08/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

Sometimes you visit a historic house or garden and think to yourself…. I could live here. Sometimes you have second thoughts and add …if only it wasn’t so remote or inhospitable a setting.  That was certainly my reactions on visiting Hulne … Continue reading →

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Sussex by La Manche?

Posted on 01/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens are one of the great combos of design history.  Their names automically trip off the tongue in the same breath,  and they created a whole series of magificant houses and gardens all across the Britain. … Continue reading →

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