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John Campbell

@room_of_light

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Places & spaces
The Creative Gardener book on reorder now #gardenphotography

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The Creative Gardeners! We recreated the cover photo for this brilliant book by @hortihack and @room_of_light - available now - celebrating the creativity of gardeners! It’s a real joy to be featured @kneppwildland amongst a selection of 27 inspiring and imaginative gardeners, and the beautiful gardens they sculpt.

(Each member of our team at Knepp worked in other creative industries before moving into horticulture: Architecture, acting, advertising, film, and prop/set design.)

First pic by Peter Venner (another creative gardener) taken in Knepp Estate by @room_of_light

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4 days ago

Well, that’s been a nice surprise.

The Creative Gardener book hasn’t even been out a week yet, but we’ve had such an amazing response already.

Maybe that is because it is not, as some astute people have pointed out, your typical gardens book. Of which I will go into in more detail in a future post.

It does, however, still feature exquisite and exciting and elegant growing spaces for avid armchair gardeners and garden fanciers.

Here, for your enjoyment, are a selection from the book - all shot by @room_of_light - beginning with the flower farm of Green and Gorgeous.

Swipe for more inspiring gardens ➡️

A calm but captivating little tableau in designer Sarah Price’s own garden in South Wales.

The Rubble Garden created from the remains of an old power station at Birch Farm in Devon.

How to frame a view masterclass at Sculpture by the Lakes in Dorset.

The sweetest garden room and greenhouse in the garden of media maven Farrah Storr in Kent.

A small DIY natural swimming pond made by designer Will Tomson in his own garden near Sheffield

Wildscaping at John Little and Fiona Crummay’s Hilldrop garden in Essex.

Discover many more, and more unusual, gardens and growing spaces in The Creative Gardener book, out now - link in bio and Stories. by @room_of_light

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11 days ago

To celebrate The Creative Gardener book going on sale a few days ago, we are sharing some of our favourite portraits of the people featured inside its pages.

If you want to see more and buy a copy, you can find a link in bio

First up, Dean Charlton of Hooton’s Walled Nursery

Kyla La Grange, musician and garden designer

Jenny ‘Niff’ Barnes, rose sculptor

Errol Reuben Fernandes, head of horticulture at the Horniman Museum

Alice Vincent, writer

Nigel Slater, cook and writer

Kaori Tatebayashi, ceramic artist

John Little, innovative ecological gardener

Rosanna Morris, printmaker

Matthew Rice, watercolour artist

Jimi Blake, plantsman and gardener

All images by @room_of_light

And there are so many more in the book, with fascinating stories and inspiring ways of working.

Hit the follow button now to see our Meet the Creative Gardeners series of films and go to link in my bio to find ways to buy or book tickets to our launch on Tuesday 13 October @gardenmuseum by @room_of_light

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14 days ago

Rachel Siegfried started Green & Gorgeous, her flower farm and floral design studio in south Oxfordshire, 17 years ago, and now looks after five acres of organic flowers for cutting.

She still clearly remembers cutting her first bunch of cut flowers. “I loved how it encapsulated the garden in one handful, and seeing how the flowers worked together in the border, but also in the vase. I love that translation, and how you can then look at things closely when you have them in your home, and appreciate those plants in detail.

“Some people think that you are wasting them when you cut them for the house, but I see it as going deeper; getting to know the plant even more.”

This is an excerpt from the new book The Creative Gardener: Inspiring People, Remarkable Gardens which goes on sale today. Find out about more of the talented ‘hortists’ in the book in an extract in this month’s edition and the website of @gardens_illustrated

Buy your copy now at the link in @hortihack bio or Story 🙏🏻

📷 & 🎥 @room_of_light

This film is Episode 8 of our Meet the Creative Gardeners series, bringing the featured gardeners and gardens from the book to life.

Hit the follow button now for more calming glimpses into their green sanctuaries, and insights into their work and gardening practice.

#creativegardeners #newbook #gardenwriting #gardenartist by @room_of_light

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16 days ago

Today our book The Creative Gardener: Inspiring People, Remarkable Gardens goes on sale in the USA. Whoop whoop!

To celebrate we put together this carousel to show the work of some of the immensely talented people included in its pages, from topiary to rose training and drystone walling with rubble, plus beautiful planting from the coast to the countryside.

I met so many wonderful people on my speaking trip around America back in May and am so pleased the book is starting its journey now in such good company.

UK readers, never fear - you can get your copy when it finally goes on sale here on Thursday, or even preorder now at the link in my bio (I hear some people have already received theirs!)

The creative gardeners themselves will be gathering for our slightly belated launch event at the Garden Museum on Tuesday 13 October at 6.30pm - we’d love you to join us for some great chats on stage with @botanical_tales @joshua_sparkes and @declanbuckleyceramics as well as a lovely film by @roomoflight and the chance to mingle with the greats from the book 😉

Also the chance to see me dressed as the sugar plum fairy in a pink tutu my 4 yr old is insisting I wear to the ‘party’, if that floats your boat. You don’t want to miss it. Book your ticket at the link in my bio and see you there!

#creativegardeners #newbook #gardenwriting #gardenartist by @room_of_light

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18 days ago

Today there was an extract of my new book The Creative Gardener splashed across The Telegraph magazine, the chapter on the wonderful @damsonfarm with lovely photos by @room_of_light

I had completely forgotten this was happening thanks to a busy day involving a birthday party and a million other things, but we managed to grab a copy as the shop closed this evening to see it for ourselves.

I am not sure if anyone will buy the book off the back of this sort of exposure, but we can keep our fingers crossed in hope.

Preorder now at the link in bio if it looks like your cup of tea. Properly out on 1 October in the UK and 29 Sept in the US.

New Meet the Creative Gardeners film dropping soon - ooooo who will it be this time?!

#thecreativegardeners #hortists #newbook #creativegardener by @room_of_light

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21 days ago

Follow Katy Merrington on social media and you’re sure to see one of her occasional videos portraying elements of her role as cultural gardener at The Hepworth Wakefield gallery’s garden.

Whether it’s showing off her pimped-up hand pallet truck in the style of Top Gear, or reading someone’s dropped shopping list as a surrealist poem, these humorous nuggets give a small window into her wonderfully whimsical mindset.

Katy came on board as the garden was being built, and the planting was completed just as the Covid lockdowns hit. The novel idea of being a gardener of a gallery appealed to her, as a callback to her years studying fine art in uni and trying to forge a career afterwards doing “all sorts of funny, weird things” from freelance film making to architectural lighting.

“Gardening is creative,” she says. But a garden doesn’t have the same insurable, marketable value as a sculpture or painting, meaning you can’t sell it for an ever-increasing price, she points out. Maybe that’s why gardening isn’t held in such high regard as other branches of the arts.

Where the garden has the edge over the artwork in the gallery is how accessible it is not just to visitors but to locals, who can come and enjoy this extraordinary slice of public greenspace any time they like, for nothing.

“In my art, I was always into suspension of disbelief, and I realise I’m still interested in this, because that is what gardens do. They say, ‘Come into this little paradise - it’s better here’. How they do that, and how much it takes to do that, are questions that still interest me.”

Excerpt from the new book The Creative Gardener: Inspiring People, Remarkable Gardens, with beautiful photography and film by @room_of_light
Out 1 October, but please do consider pre-ordering now at the link in my bio.

This film is Episode 7 of our Meet the Creative Gardeners series, bringing the featured gardeners and gardens from the book to life.

Hit the follow button now for more calming glimpses into their green sanctuaries, and insights into their work and gardening practice.

#creativegardeners #newbook #gardenwriting #gardenartist by @room_of_light

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a month ago

Sculpture by the Lakes appears in The Creative Gardener.

Written by @hortihack , with photography by @room_of_light , the book celebrates inspiring people and remarkable gardens across the UK.

Turn to pages 160–171 to find Simon and Monique Gudgeon, the making of Sculpture by the Lakes, and a glimpse into the ideas, work and spirit behind the place.

A beautiful book for anyone interested in gardens, creativity, art and the people who shape the places we love.

The Creative Gardener is available on Amazon. by @room_of_light

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a month ago

Spend the day with Joshua Sparkes, head gardener at Birch Farm, and by the end you’re sure to feel like your brain is on a spin cycle.

It’s a constant, though pleasant, barrage of information, delivered with captivating passion. You are in the presence of a true believer, you realise - and you’re quickly considering joining the faith.

This patch of land in north Devon has been utterly transformed in the space of just five years, from a silent dairy pasture to a beautiful, biodiverse and productive space.

For Josh, the key question is if we can grow food in a way that also supports biodiversity. For most gardeners, the answer is confronting. Weeds are welcomed here, and ‘pests’ of all kinds are left well alone.

“I think of myself as a beetle farmer now,” he says, only half joking.

Excerpt from the new book The Creative Gardener: Inspiring People, Remarkable Gardens, with photography by @room_of_light who also made these lovely little films. On sale 1 October but please do consider helping us out by pre-ordering now at the link in my bio.

Josh is one of our speakers at our launch at the Garden Museum on 13 October, 6.30pm. Book your ticket at the link in my bio to celebrate with us and most of the other creative gardeners in the book.

This film is Episode 6 of our Meet the Creative Gardeners series, which aims to bring their stories and gardens to life.

Hit the follow button now for more glimpses into their personal sanctuaries and insights into their work and gardening practice.

#creativegardeners #newbook #gardenwriting by @room_of_light

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a month ago

Floral artist Bex Partridge’s style is sculptural, with natural architecture from branches and texture from seedheads.

“It’s all been self-taught. A lot of it comes down to play and experimentation,” she says. “It’s always about bringing the outside in.”

Bex works in a studio in her garden that is light and airy – just right for drying flowers. Her growing plot beyond is framed with charmingly rustic homemade fencing, to keep out the deer, rabbits and her cluck-happy chickens.

Colourful strawflowers, lacy Ammi majus, spires of larkspur and fluffy grasses mingle with stands of sweet peas, marjoram and dahlias, as well as nigella, mallow and poppies grown for their seedheads.

On sunny days, the beds come alive with pollinators. “The beauty of growing flowers to dry is how many butterflies there are, because I’m not cutting the blooms when they’re in bud, but after they have opened.”

Excerpt from the new book The Creative Gardener: Inspiring People, Remarkable Gardens, with beautiful photography and film by @room_of_light
Out 1 October. Pre-order now at top link in my bio.

Bex will be one of our speakers at our special event at the Garden Museum on 13 October at 6.30pm. Come join us to celebrate the launch of the book - book your ticket via the Events and more link in my bio.

This film is Episode 5 of our Meet the Creative Gardeners series, which aims to bring the featured gardeners and gardens from the book to life.

Hit the follow button now for more calming glimpses into their personal sanctuaries and insights into their work and gardening practice.

#creativegardeners #newbook #gardenwriting by @room_of_light

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a month ago

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2 months ago

Garden designer Sarah Price moved from London back to her family’s shared property of an old rectory in Wales in 2013.

The walled garden she knew from childhood was partly cultivated, with a productive garden and patch of lawn, but also huge beds of ground elder. Sarah has since developed it slowly over the years, as and when she’s had time and plants. She now calls it her “sketchbook”.

“Just seeing different colours or the way the petals fold can trigger ideas,” she says. “To be constantly observing is a big inspiration.”

The lucky clients who manage to commission her benefit from this thoughtful approach. On starting a new project, she will go to the site and see “what beauty can be drawn out”. Then she collages and draws quite a “primitive” visual to set the mood, theme and tone. If she has time, she likes creating models by hand to explore the space.

But it’s once the build begins that it gets really exciting for her. “I love the moment when you’re on site, taking things down and putting things in, and you’re seeing space and void and colour, and shifting shadows and light. Often you’ve got to be like a conductor, controlling all these moving parts, and syncing it up.”

Excerpt from the new book The Creative Gardener: Inspiring People, Remarkable Gardens, with photography and film by @room_of_light - out 1 October. Please consider pre-ordering it now at link in bio as it makes a huge difference 🙏🏻

This video is Episode 3 of our Meet the Creative Gardeners series, which aims to bring the featured gardeners and gardens from the book to life. Hit the follow button now for more calming glimpses into their personal sanctuaries and insights into their work and gardening practice. by @room_of_light

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2 months ago