In this week’s Times Literary Supplement, Kate Hext explores Arthur Graham’s creation of the Italian Garden in the cultural and literary context of the time, arguing for its originality as a flamboyant interpretation of Italian principles with more in common with Villa Farnese and Hadrian’s Villa than contemporary English Italianate gardens.
Read MoreKate is researching and writing about the culture, literature, and history of the garden, helping us understand its significance within the context of the time, the people who were involved in creating it, and the literature and arts that its designs reflect.
Read MoreWestern 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.
Read MoreIn Holes and Corners, a site-specific project by artist James Cabaniuk, supported by literary critic and writer Kate Hext, invites visitors to explore the historical significance of this Edwardian Garden as a private refuge for its curator Arthur Smith Graham, while reflecting on contemporary queer experiences.
Read MoreFrances 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?”
Read MoreThe 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
Read MoreAfter 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreThis 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….
Read MoreArthur 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.
Read MoreHi, 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.
Read MoreKim 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.”
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreHi, my name’s Matt Gare and I am the Groundsman and Volunteer Leader here at The Italian Garden.
Read MoreHi, my name’s Vicki Gardner and I’m the photographer who took all the photographs of The Italian Garden you see on this site.
Read MoreJan oversees the day-to-day operations in the garden and coordinates our amazing volunteer team.
Read MoreHi, my name’s Andrew Howell and I designed the logo for The Italian Garden.
Read MoreHi, 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreAt 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.
Read More
