How Does Your Trendy Garden Grow?

The Garden Museum in Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 is next door to Lambeth Palace itself, overlooking the Thames. The Museum has been on my radar for quite some time and I enjoy receiving their newsletters, as they are usually full of tasty arty horticultural titbits. Just recently I learned that the museum has been gifted a very interesting dwelling, by The Pinchbeck Chritable Trust, Benton End in Suffolk.

Cedric Morris and his partner Arthur Lett Haines set up the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing at Benton End in 1939 and in some form it remained open to students until Arthur died in 1978. Most famously Lucien Freud and Maggi Hambling 'trained' there when they were both still teenagers. It seems everybody that has had an association with the school has been dusted with a little bit of starlight. Cedric Morris is viewed as a very important figure in the worlds of both art and horticulture. His bohemian methods of teaching are reflected in his own paintings. He was mad about Irises and frequently painted them. I first heard about Morris through the art dealer Philip Mould who is a big fan, Philip is also on the board of trustees at Benton End. Plans are afoot to open the house and gardens at Benton End to the public, they hope the walled garden will open in 2026. I think it will be a really special place. In the meantime you can visit the Garden Museum and the 10 acre gardens of Lambeth Palace itself which were founded in 1197. Check the opening times before you go though as the gardens have resricted opening times.

Credit, photo of Benton End, Matt Collins. Cedric Morris self portrait, NPG. Cedric Morris both flower paintings.