Gravetye Manor, Sarah Price Landscapes Talk
On Sunday 21st July I had the great experience of hearing renowned Garden Designer, Sarah Price talk about her process of creating her gardens. The talk took place at Gravetye Manor, in Sussex as part of the William Robinson Festival.
As we were in the home of pioneering garden writer, William Robinson, Sarah began by reflecting on his book ‘The Wild Garden’, first published in 1870 and how his ground breaking ethos have become essential to the way we garden and design gardens today. Sarah can relate to his struggles against rigid Victorian style planting as her naturalistic and environmentally conscious style has been met with push back, most notably in her 2012 Olympic garden.
In 2018 her Chelsea garden was created with a sensitive approach to being as eco conscious as possible, however it wasn’t until her latest Chelsea flower show in 2023 that this approach made headlines. This shows how the culture is shifting and this element of garden making is becoming much more sought after.
Sarah describes her garden making as ‘quiet and subtle’, being sensitive and aware of what is already there and how to work with and enhance what a place has to offer. She enjoys being as resourceful as possible, using materials found on site to reuse in the garden. I find her use of materials captivating, Sarah uses techniques such as lime washed walls, ropes hand dyed and made out of local hop, sanded organic local stones or hand made bricks. Each material brought into a garden is organic and highly considered giving the ‘hard landscaping’ of a garden a much softer, crafted atmosphere.
This approach really draws you in, it feels comforting and warm, along with the planting that Sarah goes about in a similar way, her gardens really are works of art and Sarah describes her desire to create a magical feeling as well as ‘pictures’ from the spaces she creates.
Another note worthy aspect of the way Sarah creates gardens is how she embraces the organic, curvy and unexpected shapes of the plants particularly tree trunks. Cutting back shoots in order to expose the sculptural quality of trees is beautifully showcased, creating viewpoints and shadows within her gardens. Topiarising saplings and allowing them space within her gardens is such a playful and engaging way to make the naturalised element of a garden a part of the deisgn process.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the process and hearing from Sarah herself about the artistic way she goes about creating gardens and how she creates truly beautiful spaces.