The Nurture Landscapes Garden

The garden has been designed by one of the most prominent garden designers in Britain, Sarah Price. Sarah is trained in fine art and has a lifelong love of wild and natural environments. She has won numerous awards, including Gold Medals at Chelsea in 2012 and 2018. The garden will be constructed out of sustainable building materials and will emphasize the importance of craftsmanship in how it is constructed.

Sarah spent many hours immersed in the garden of Cedric Morris’ Benton End. Benton End is world renowned as being one of the first modern gardens of naturalistic design, with Cedric Morris breeding and planting at least 90 different Iris varieties. The Demure fritillaries and Anemone pavonina caught her eye as it scattered the long grass like an entrance and tracing. She describes this landscape as a ‘medieval mead’ and it reminded her of her love and admiration of Cedric Morris’ planting.

The garden design will combine hard landscaping textures reminiscent of the house at Benton End, together with a planting palette that will appear wild but will incorporate the tone of the Iris and other plants that were a feature of Cedric’s work and garden. Climbers supported by reclaimed timber and cordage frame views into and through the garden. Saplings, grasses, and characterful trees hint at semi-abandonment, while the watercolor-like colors (plums, mauves, olive yellow, creamy browns) will create this distinctive palette. The distinctive palette of pink, blue and yellow seen in two of Cedric Morris’ paintings (Cotyledon and Eggs, and The Eggs) will be reflected in the garden to offset the complex tones of Morris’ Benton Iris and his grey poppies.

The sixteenth-century surroundings at Benton End, constructed using traditional techniques, have provided inspiration for the contemporary use of locally sourced, sustainable materials. Rich-coloured, textured, straw-cob walls will be featured as a nod to the original pigmented plaster and bricks that the house at Benton End is made from, with the ‘wild-looking’ planting paying tribute to the rambling garden where Cedric’s own plants were cultivated.