NEWS RELEASES
Reaping What You Sow at Horsham Museum
17th July 2007
Televisions and celebrity gardeners may be able to do makeover shows when, in the time it takes to make two mugs of tea, a barren patch of scrub land is transformed into a horticultural paradise, but true gardeners know the reality.
Some twenty five years ago Sylvia Standing volunteered to work on the Horsham Museum patch of scrub land. When she retired three years ago the magnificent walled garden she had created was taken on by a small dedicated team of volunteers who have continued and developed her work. Now the garden, known as the Sylvia Standing garden, has been recognised in a brand new book entitled 20 Sussex Gardens as a “pearl”.
What is most remarkable about this accolade however is that it is given in a unique publication that glorifies the gardens it celebrates through the words of the author, Lorraine Harrison and the delicate illustrations of Sarah Young. Unlike so many modern garden books that use full Technicolor images that almost looks brash and overblown along with breathless text, this small but perfectly formed book uses restraint and subtle images to portray the gardens.
Lorraine, who has an MA in Garden History, not only recounts the history of the garden but also describes its key qualities, features captured in the Sarah Young black and white illustration. Other local gardens included in this unique guide book are at Parham House and Leonardslee. 20 Sussex Gardens is published by a small Sussex based publisher, Snakeriver Press, obviously drawing their name from their home at Alfriston where the river snakes through the landscape.
They have produced five other Sussex Guides and for only two weeks, from the 14th to 28th July, Horsham Museum will be displaying some of the original artwork.
The author will also be at the Museum on Saturday 21st July between 11am and 2pm signing copies of the book, helping to raise funds for the Museum garden, and the artist Sarah Young will be demonstrating her craft.
For further information please contact:
Jeremy Knight
Curator
Horsham Museum
9 Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HE
Tel: (01403) 254959
Fax: (01403) 282594
Email: museum@horsham.gov.uk
http://www.horshammuseum.org/