The Art of the Garden

Lulah Ellender explores Sussex’s creative green spaces.

The Glory of the Garden: Kipling’s garden at Bateman’s

Bateman's Garden in Burwash, formerly owned by Rudyard Kipling

My first encounter with Bateman’s, the former home of poet and author Rudyard Kipling’s, was, fittingly, through a story. It goes like this. At the age of six, Kipling was sent from his home in India to school in England. This uprooting was traumatic enough, but he also experienced cruel treatment from the foster family charged with his care. His uncle’s house in Fulham became a refuge – every time he rang the bell-pull there he felt relief, welcome, at home. When this house was demolished years later, Kipling rescued the bell-pull and installed it at Bateman’s, wanting any child visiting to feel the same sense of safety and fun.

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The Artistry of Prairie Planting: Sussex Prairie Garden

Sussex Prairie Garden

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I arrived at Sussex Prairie Garden, near Henfield, but it wasn’t banana palms, Tibetan prayer flags and pigs. It’s a sign that this place is doing something different, that it will challenge perceptions and encourage the visitor to keep an open mind.

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The Power of Horticulture: One Garden in Stanmer Park

One Garden at Stanmer Park.

While there is something inherently democratic about gardening there is also no doubt that it can feel like an exclusive world. Well-known gardens generally charge money for entry or are part of grand estates where many of us don’t feel any connection – or welcome…

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Picasso, Potatoes and Parsley

Farleys Garden.

At the end of ROSA #2 you can see a photo of Picasso standing on a triangle of grass in Muddles Green. It feels an incongruous image – one of the most influential artists of the 20th century standing in a beret and wool suit, pointing at a road sign in a sleepy Sussex village. Why was he here?

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This Immortal Rhythm: Monk’s House

Monk's House in Rodmell.

I’m not sure if it’s the two solemn-faced busts of the previous occupants, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, or Virginia’s sad death that create such a strong sense of the past haunting the present in the garden at Monk’s House in Rodmell…

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