Academic but not dry, informative and entertaining

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By its nature ‘academic’ anticipates an appetite for a deeper study of a subject whilst ‘informative’ seeks an insight into a body of knowledge, and then there is the more sensory process of practical handling of plants and food.

Portraits, politics and passion - four artist’s garden landscapes

A course examining five contrasting artists, their personal gardens and landscapes, starting with ‘Capability’ Brown’s contemporary Gainsborough, his childhood garden, portraits and landscapes. The politics and passion of Arts and Crafts is encapsulated by William and May Morris at Red House and Kelmscott Manor. Churchill, the military landscaping of water at Chartwell and the peace of his studio. Lastly, Artist Plantsman Cedric Morris took consummate botany into expressionist flower paintings with a dash of surrealism and cubism.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/portraits-politics-and-passion  

£5 each or series of 4 £16

Tuesday 2nd February Thomas Gainsborough – a silken thread of painted landscapes

The silken thread starts with the gnarled mulberry tree that still dominates Thomas Gainsborough’s childhood garden in Sudbury, Suffolk continuing to London, Bath and Chatsworth. Contemporary with England’s greatest landscaper, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, Gainsborough was an originator of the English landscape painting school. 

Tuesday 9th February William Morris – beauty and utility

Morris’s romantic utopianism was derived from nature and medieval craftsmanship, expressed in the gardens of Red House. Kelmscott Manor, growing out of its own site was the setting for Morris’s socialism and inspiration for his philosophy and crafts. May Morris’s outstanding botanical drawings and embroidery skills put the final threads into the weave and saved Kelmscott.

Tuesday 16th February Winston Churchill at home – Chartwell

Churchill’s family connections lead to the availability of many early marital homes. In 1921 Churchill made the unilateral decision to purchase Chartwell, the children were ecstatic whilst Clementine was appalled. Away from politics, the development of the gardens at Chartwell, his craftsmanship as a bricklayer in ‘biographical garden buildings’ was matched by the solace of painting.

Tuesday 23rd February Cedric Morris – irises and beyond

The sole Artist Plantsman in this series, his final Suffolk home Benton End was saved in 2019, here he intertwined art and botany expressed in his glorious flower paintings, he cultivated over 90 new irises. His portraits and landscapes present his wide friendships and expansive travels. Benton End gardens also cultivated a new generation of artists not least Maggi Hambling.

Course Director for the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education – International and accredited programmes.  

VIRTUAL FESTIVAL OF WINTER LEARNING JANUARY 2021  

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CambridgeICE/posts/10164985417375171 

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Week 1 Beauty and Utility – Arts and Crafts houses and gardens https://www.ice.cam.ac.uk/course/beauty-and-utility-arts-and-crafts-houses-and-gardens

This course will examine the material outcomes - in every sense - of the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded on rural and historic ideals of human skill, and launched in the 1880s to counter Britain’s industrialisation. We start with William Morris’s romantic utopianism balanced with Philip Webb’s common sense and practicality, expressed in the architecture, furnishings and settings of The Red House, Kelmscott Manor and Stanton. We compare the gardens, craftsmanship and architecture of William Robinson, Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens. The forums offer an opportunity to explore the pioneering spirits of the Biddulphs at Rodmarton Manor and the David Parr House in Cambridge.

Week 2 Castles, Palaces and Houses of British Monarchs https://www.ice.cam.ac.uk/course/castles-palaces-and-houses-british-monarchs-3

Romance can be traced in the architecture and gardens of royal dwellings. Starting with Windsor Castle, the oldest continuously inhabited castle in the world. Created in Tudor Renaissance style, Hampton Court Palace was perfected by Henry VIII, and gloriously extended by the Stuart monarchs William III and Mary II.  Victoria and Albert embodied 19thcentury romanticism and innovation, they built ‘Scottish Baronial’ Balmoral Castle in the Highlands, still a Royal Family favourite. Buckingham Palace has hosted many a royal public appearance built on a 17th century Mulberry Garden, all bar two of George III’s children were born here. The course concludes with Victoria’s childhood home, Kensington Palace, known for its contemporary royal occupants.

MISTLETOE AND MORE

Four seasonal lectures for Tuesdays in December by Dr. David Marsh and me

1. The Folly and the Ivy - Caroline Holmes

2. Naked Ladies and the Scarlet Monster - David Marsh

3. Step into the Christmas card - Caroline Holmes

4. Mistletoe and Druids - David Marsh

 £5 per lecture. Booking and further information at https://mistletoeandmore.eventbrite.co.uk 

THE MEDIAEVAL GARDEN

An exploration of the medieaval garden's myths and realities. The practical and functional, the decorative and pleasurable, the sacred and the profane. A series of 6 lectures with Dr. David Marsh and I, opportunities for questions at the end of each lecture. Thursdays 12, 19 and 26 November & 3, 10 and 17 December at 10am. On behalf of The Gardens Trust. Cost £30.

Booking and course details https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-mediaeval-garden-tickets-124917300007

The Water Lily: Memphis, Monet and beyond

For the Gardens Trust on Tuesday 6th October

To book https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flower-power-tickets-118661434545 

The story begins in Memphis, the main cult centre of Nefertem in Ancient Egypt, with Nymphaea and Nelumbium, the blue water lily and lotus. Millennia later Philip Miller wrote: ‘Nymphaea … grows in Water which the Poets feign to be the Residence of the Nymphs’. Associated by its common name, the great white waterlily was coaxed into flower by Joseph Paxton and accompanied by colourful tropical cultivars they transformed glasshouses across the world. Inspired, Bory Latour-Marliac dedicated his life to breeding those exotic colours into hardy Nymphaea which entranced the plantsman in Monet. Hardy blues remained elusive until the 21st century.

Floreat: Roots and Branches that Flourished in the Classical World

A 4-part lecture series for the Gardens Trust with 4 x 90 mins (max) sessions, online once a week on Thursday mornings. NB tickets £20 for the full series of 4

To book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/floreat-tickets-118729165129 

A series of four lectures: we set the scene identifying biblical plants, starting with the Garden of Eden – what was the Tree of Knowledge? The second session examines Ancient Greece through architecture, wall paintings and writings exploring divine and medicinal plants. How the Nile’s rich rewards were harnessed by the Ancient Egyptians will be the focus of the third evidenced in rich surviving illustrations. Their extensive gardens and plantings inspired the Ancient Romans, the subject of the fourth lecture. Throughout this series classical plants are central whether in murals, mosaics, architecture, writing or indeed still living.

Week 1. Thurs Oct 8th: Introduction – Edenic paradise to expulsion, from apples to lemons.

Week 2. Thurs Oct 15th: Ancient Greece under the shade of Zeus and Athene’s trees and the plant ethics of Hippocrates and Socrates.

Week 3. Thurs Oct 22nd: Planting Ancient Egypt and the waft of rose scented sails.

Week 4. Thurs Oct 29th: Ancient Rome, gardens, garlands and classical introductions.

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the course, and a link to the recorded session will be sent to attendees shortly afterwards.

Our house and garden have been featured in Country Homes and Interiors, Country Life, Country Living, Garden News and The English Garden and filmed for BBC and Anglia TV. 

NHK (Japanese National Broadcasting) filmed a 50-minute programme (broadcast in Japan) on my work and lifestyle in my gardens, house, office and surrounding countryside 

Watch a young me making a salad from my garden on www.youtube.com/cookingtipstv