Art Trail through the Flowers

I don't think they could have chosen a better week for this event - all around our local villages artists are opening up their homes and gardens to visitors. My friend Sarah Coward, who is a sculptor, has decided to display her bronzes on plinths in the vegetable garden next to her studio.

As I drive up to her cottage I can see Sarah down in the garden watering her plants. An old bicycle carrying baskets of pansies gets a particularly good soaking.

Sarah kindly let me photograph her garden for my forthcoming book; The Flower Shop in your Garden, which shows what you can do with the flowers and foliage you find around your home. I visited her garden in the autumn, just before she took her bronzes to be exhibited at Burghley Horse Trials. To help decorate her stand at Burghley we cut bundles of burgundy dahlias and blush coloured snowberries.
Today, in the bright summer light, a model hare, in the early stages of development, appears to leap across the vegetables beds as if Mr McGregor was on his tail.

A finished bronze hare races past through the delphiniums and lupins.

Whilst a stately bull watches as Sarah's dog, Mouse, leads visitors around her exhibition of work. If you would like to see more of her work you can visit her website; http://www.sarahcoward.com/
In the flower beds next to Sarah's studio are clumps of lemon coloured aquiligia, their fresh tones complimenting the dainty pansies potted up in the terracotta pots lined up below.