Chelsea Flower Show 2016 was as interesting as ever, both for the superb show gardens (especially the 'Best In Show' Telegraph garden by Any Sprugeon) as well as for the plants that go in an out of fashion. This year no one used Anthriscus 'Ravenswing' when only three years ago it was everywhere, and there was masses of purple. For more photos click here
A selection of writings, speeches, photographs and events as well as some of my favourite literary passages.
Tuesday 24 May 2016
Chelsea Flower Show 2016
Chelsea Flower Show 2016 was as interesting as ever, both for the superb show gardens (especially the 'Best In Show' Telegraph garden by Any Sprugeon) as well as for the plants that go in an out of fashion. This year no one used Anthriscus 'Ravenswing' when only three years ago it was everywhere, and there was masses of purple. For more photos click here
Saturday 21 May 2016
Favourite Gardens - West Green
West Green near Hartley Whitney is a beautiful 1720's house with a somewhat scarred past (brutal first owner Gen Henry Hartley and almost demolished by an IRA bomb) that was left to the National Trust by Sir Victor Sassoon in 1957 but has been taken on a long lease by Marylyn Abbott who has completely redesigned the fascinating and beautiful garden. Click here for some more photos.
Wednesday 18 May 2016
Favourite Sculptures - the Garden Gallery
Rachel Bebb's wonderful Garden Gallery in Broughton held a private view for the latest summer exhibition of sculptures called 'Footprints on the Sands of Time' and featuring Charlotte Mayer as well as 120 other works. Click here for some more photos of the exhibition.
Monday 16 May 2016
The Manor at Upton Grey
The Manor House at Upton Grey is an Arts & Craft house with a beautiful garden carefully restored by Rosamund Wallinger and her husband based on the original plans by Gertrude Jeykell from 1908.
Click here for some more photos
Wednesday 23 March 2016
Favourite Gardens - Hinton Ampner
'At Hinton, I am inclined to believe that the most attractive area is the sward of plain grass between the church and the house with the tall jade-green stems of beech trees rising beyond it. There is a spaciousness and tranquillity here which my more elaborate efforts elsewhere have not achieved.' - Ralph Dutton.
Although much of the garden is lovely, I agree with Dutton that the best part is the 'ungardened' view between the house and the church where the ancient beeches preside over the smooth sweeps of lawn. Much of the garden is on clay which is easily dried out by the wind, so that topiary and areas such as the Dell, full of mature trees and shrubs, are more successful.
I do agree with Dutton, though, when he writes: 'I have learnt during the past years what above all I want from a garden and that is tranquillity.'
The view from the terrace in June. |
The house is wonderful, having relatively few perfectly proportioned principal rooms, all beautifully decorated in Dutton's precise neo-Georgian style.
The Entrance Hall |
The South Drawing Room |
The Dining Room |
Breakfast laid out in Ralph Dutton's bedroom |
Friday 4 March 2016
Favourite Paintings - Hilma af Klint
Hilma af Klint - Group IV No 3 The Ten Largest - Youth 1907 |
For a brief biography, see here
See more of her paintings here
Saturday 23 January 2016
The Forms of Love
Love comprehends the complexity
of human relationship in all its forms. All of us hold feelings for others, but
these feelings differ according to the people involved and the circumstances
under which we interact. In the English language there is only one word to
describe all of them: Love.
It wasn’t always so. The Ancient
Greeks had around thirty words to describe Love in all its shades and
complexities. The most easily recognizable of these forms are generally
accepted to be the following seven:
Agape – the love of
humanity (also known as ‘Love without desire’)
The kind of love which makes us sad
when we hear of a crisis in another country (or our own); that makes us give
our time or money to charity; and makes us feel connected to people we don’t
know simply on the basis of our shared experience as human beings.
Storge – family love
The love a parent or grandparent
has for a child, or the love a child has for a favourite aunt or uncle. Equally,
the love a foster parent feels for children in his/her care. Also of course the
love between siblings.
Pragma – love which
endures
The love between a married couple
which typically develops over a long period of time. This is the love that endures
in sickness and in health and is also the love which exists between old friends
(of the same or different sexes) and which causes one to care for another in
later life.
Philautia –
self-respect
The love we give to ourselves.
This is not vanity, like narcissism, but our joy in being true to our own
nature and values. It gives us the strength to care for ourselves so that we
can in turn care for others.
Philia – shared
experience
The love we feel for people we
combine with to achieve a shared goal – our fellow workers, the players in a
team or soldiers in an army.
Ludus – flirting,
playful affection
The feelings we have when we play
at what it might be like to be in love with someone.
Eros – romantic and
erotic love
The one which is most often
thought of as love but is really based on sexual attraction. It can turn into
other kinds of love – like pragma – but it starts as romance.
Wednesday 20 January 2016
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