Travels with a sketchbook - in the South of England

Top L to R: Munstead Woods; Penshurst Place
Bottom L to R: Fields to the rear of Sissinghurst Castle Garden - in Spring and Autumn

This post lists all those posts which relate to places - and gardens in particular - in the South of England outside London.

Counties are listed alphabetically. The posts are then listed in the order they were published except where there are a group belonging to one place (eg Sissinghurst) in which case those are grouped together. The images all come from the posts listed.

This summary will be updated periodically with posts as they are added to the blog. It will also be listed in the right hand column of this blog.

Berkshire & Buckinghamshire

• Cliveden, Cookham and Stanley Spencer
• Eating - and sketching - Alfresco (to be transferred to this blog)
• Rush Hour at the Marlow Rowing Club (to be transferred to this blog)

East Sussex

Great Dixter

• Great Dixter
• Great Dixter in the Spring
• The Rother Valley from Great Dixter
• The Long Border at Great Dixter
• The Bird Topiary at Great Dixter

Sheffield Park

• Autumn reflections at Sheffield Park
• Autumn Colour at Sheffield Park
• An Indian Summer (and ice lakes) at Sheffield Park
• Birch, Witch Hazel, Acer Palmatum, Fir - at Sheffield Park

Gloucestershire

• Moreton in Marsh - galleries, cakes and tarts

Kent

Chartwell

• The kitchen garden at Chartwell, Churchill's former home
• View from the Chartwell swimming pool

Emmetts Garden

• Sketching bluebells at Emmett's Garden, Kent
• Through the fence (Emmett's Garden)
• The view of the Weald from Emmetts Garden

Great Comp

• International Sketchcrawl - Great Comp Garden, Kent

Sissinghurst Castle Garden

• More sketching at Sissinghurst and a salutary tale
• The White Garden, Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent
• Summer at Sissinghurst
• Autumn at Sissinghurst
• Spring at Sissinghurst
• Spring fields from Sissinghurst
• Sissinghurst - and tips for time limited sketches
• Sketching the Herb Garden at Sissinghurst
• Sissinghurst Moat and Orchard in Spring sunshine
• Vita Sackville West's Tower at Sissinghurst Castle Garden
• Sissinghurst - from 3rd hottest to 2nd coldest!
• The Rose Garden at Sissinghurst - late Spring
• The view from the Downs

Knole House and Park

• Knole House in Kent

Penshurst Place

• A hot summer's afternoon in a Kentish garden (Penshurst Place)

Groombridge Place

• Groombridge Place - home of Pride and Prejudice and the Draughtsman's Contract

Surrey

Hampton Court Palace

• Hampton Court Palace and its 300 year old Yew Trees

RHS Wisley

• Blooming Wisley
• Wisley in Autumn - and the National Fruit Show
• Beschorneria yuccoides
• Three trees at Wisley

Munstead Wood

• Sketching at Gertrude Jekyll's home - Munstead Wood

West Sussex

Wakehurst Place

• Mansion Pond at Wakehurst Place

Cliveden, Cookham and Stanley Spencer

Fernlea, birthplace and childhood home of Stanley Spencer

11.5" x 8.5", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Daler Rowney sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

[Some of the content of this post was first posted on my Making A Mark blog on 2nd May 2007. I've added sketches and content. I intend to list this post - like the last one - in a new summary on this blog "Travels with a Sketchbook in the south of England"]

Yesterday (the last day of April) was a glorious day - sunny and warm with a clear blue sky and excellent light which wasn't dazzling. Coming back from a meeting in Oxford, I decided to try and visit two places near the M4o that I'd been wanting to get to for some time, knowing full well that I'd do neither justice. This was very much a late afternoon 'scout round and decide how soon I want to come back if at all' visit!

First I visited the National Trust gardens at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire. These are located north of Maidenhead and near the Thames just west of Heathrow. The wisteria was in bloom and looked great but there didn't seem to be many flowers out - it appears to be mainly a landscape garden.

I did two sketches of the view from the Orangery Cafe and from the terrace at the back of the main house. Neither of them are up to much - mainly because I'd forgotten to sharpen my pencils in the sketching pencil case after my last trip out - and had forgotten to pack my sharpener on this trip. The sketch of the garden was supposed to be a double page soread hence the odd composition. Notice also the avoidance of much use of the colour green in the subsequent sketches (at top and bottom)!

I then travelled on to Cookham, which is on the River Thames betwen Maidenhead and Marlow in Berkshire. The Cookham Festival is on at present and finishes on May 7th.

I drew Fernlea, the birthplace and childhood home of Sir Stanley Spencer in the High Street (see top) before walking around the village to see various places which feature in his paintings. I now know where the gallery about him and his work is (and that it's currently being refurbished). I finished off by having dinner at The Ferry - and drew the diners.

Diners at "The Ferry", Cookham
11.5" x 17", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Links:

• National Trust - Cliveden, Taplow, Maidenhead, Buckinghamshire SL6 0JA
  Telephone: 01628 605069
• Wikipedia - Cliveden
• Cookham
• The Sir Stanley Spencer Gallery - in Cookham and currently being renovated