Secret garden a safe space at time of persecution
Western Morning News - ATHWENNA IRONS
A SECRET garden in South Devon that served as a safe space for gay men in the early 20th century before being ‘lost’ for decades is hosting an exhibition that brings together contemporary art and academic research.
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Graham’s Garden - by Frances Mason
Frances Mason, MA student in Illustration at Falmouth University, chose for her final project “Graham’s Garden” to develop a series of illustrations in the garden as a means of exploring the research question “Can illustration create a better future by peeling away the layers of the past?”
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Ciao Bella! Muddy stays at The Italian Garden House
The Italian Garden House is an astonishingly beautiful, luxurious rural retreat. Discreetly located within the original walled Italian Garden for Great Ambrook House….
Read the full Muddy Stilettos review of The Italian Garden House
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The Italian Garden on BBC Spotlight
After the press announcement of our £188,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant award, BBC Spotlight visited to learn more about the garden’s history and restoration plans, and meet some of the team bringing the garden back to life.
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Great Ambrook, an Italian Garden in Ipplepen, to be restored thanks to Heritage Fund grant
The Italian Garden at Great Ambrook has been awarded a £188,050 grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund for a 3-year project to restore the garden and broaden its contributions to the local community.
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A secret garden uncovered - Ken and Doris Rees
This article published in the Herald Express in July 1995 and reproduced here shares the story of how Ken and Doris Rees first uncovered the garden in the late 1980s and what they discovered….
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Arthur Graham of Great Ambrook - 150th anniversary
Arthur Graham, born in Tulse Hill, Surrey on 29th July 1871, 150 years ago today, was the owner of Great Ambrook and the creator of the Italian Garden.
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SPOTLIGHT: Artist in Residence - Josephine Birch
Hi, my name’s Josephine Birch and I am an artist and illustrator specialised in drawing on location. I have just begun a residency at the Italian Garden where I will be documenting the changing seasons and the work of the volunteers.
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Devon Life - February 2021
Kim Partridge vividly remembers the day she first set foot in The Italian Garden. “The sun was setting, it was late in the afternoon on a warm, still summer’s evening and it was incredible - the garden revealed itself to us in a way we couldn’t imagine.”
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Musings on the design of an Italianate garden
The garden at Great Ambrook is so often referred to as ‘unique’ and so it appears to be, as well as extraordinary, with its Italianate style hidden in the midst of rolling Devonshire countryside. Just how extraordinary can be set against the era of Arthur Graham’s life and the influences to which he must have been exposed.
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SPOTLIGHT: Groundsman - Matt Gare
Hi, my name’s Matt Gare and I am the Groundsman and Volunteer Leader here at The Italian Garden.
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SPOTLIGHT: Photographer - Vicki Gardner
Hi, my name’s Vicki Gardner and I’m the photographer who took all the photographs of The Italian Garden you see on this site.
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SPOTLIGHT: Volunteer Coordinator - Jan Yeates
Jan oversees the day-to-day operations in the garden and coordinates our amazing volunteer team.
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SPOTLIGHT: Graphic Designer - Andrew Howell
Hi, my name’s Andrew Howell and I designed the logo for The Italian Garden.
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SPOTLIGHT: Web Designer - Nisha White of Blanco Digital Studio
Hi, my name’s Nisha White and I run a web design business called Blanco Digital Studio. I actually designed the site you're on right now.
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Restoration work to begin at The Italian Garden at Great Ambrook thanks to National Lottery funding
The Italian Garden at Great Ambrook, which has been described as Devon’s answer to the Lost Gardens of Heligan, has been awarded a £48,900 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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The English Garden - April 2018
At Great Ambrook in Devon, Stephanie Berry and Kim Chapman have undertaken to restore a long-forgotten Italian-themed garden imbued with the hedonistic mood of the early 1900s.
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