A PARADISE OF POLLEN AND PAINT
We are excited to announce the launch of our fundraising appeal as we take the first steps to renew the fabled walled garden of Cedric Morris at Benton End. The walled garden is remembered by Ronald Blythe as ‘a paradise of pollen and paint’ and by Beth Chatto, Cedric’s protégé, as a ‘bewildering, mind-stretching, eye-widening canvas of colour, texture and shapes’.
Once again, this historic walled garden will be a collection of rare plants assembled with an artistic vision. And fifty years after The East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing closed, students will return to set up easels among the flowers. Benton End will be a unique inspiration to artists, and gardeners, as it was in the years after Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines found a crumbling Tudor Manor House in a Suffolk river valley.
We want to complete the walled garden and open for visitors in May 2026, when the irises are in flower:
This will cost £368,000 (inc. VAT) of which £127,000 has been pledged. This leaves £242,000 to raise, and you can help us to reach that target.
Donate to Benton End – Garden Museum
A GARDEN MIRACLE
Benton End exists because of two acts of generosity – and a third piece of luck.
In 1940 Paul Odo Cross, a collector friend from 1920s Paris, gave Cedric the money to buy the house and convert it into an art school open to everyone; Lucian Freud was one of the first pupils.
In 2018 Rob and Bridget Pinchbeck bought Benton End from a private owner so that it could become a place of learning once again and, in 2021, majority gifted Benton End to the Garden Museum.
The luck is that none of the owners between Cedric’s death in 1982 and the Pinchbecks’ rescue ever dug up the garden: Cedric’s rare bulbs were discovered ‘sleeping’ under the grass, and will be preserved in Head Gardener James Horner’s vision.
And, finally, Cedric made a will for his plants, entrusting his rarities to friends. Over the last two years James has been re-patriating plants such as Peony ‘Late Windflower’ from John Morley and Papaver orientale ‘Cedric Morris’ from Beth Chatto Nurseries.
Sarah Cook, who lives in the next village, was recently awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the RHS for her work in tracking down 28 of the varieties named and registered by Cedric, each showing how his artist’s eye as ‘one of the great colourists of the century’ (Philip Mould). Thanks to a gift by Sarah, Cedric’s irises will flower once again at Benton End.
A UNIQUE GARDEN
Cedric’s garden was the first naturalistic garden in Britain. It was entirely devoted to the cultivation of hundreds of unusual plants; many were new introductions to horticulture, grown in loosely formed organically shaped beds. Pathways meandered through and enabled close engagement with the flowers, whether as a botantist or an artist.
The garden is being renewed through the vision and skill of James Horner, one of the most talented gardeners of his generation, who is beginning the third of three years funded by a charitable trust.
Over two years, James has been supported by two trainees so far, with one more to come later this year. through the excellent WRAGS scheme: the first, Jonathan Zerr, won Young Horticulturalist of the Year.
We are also working in collaboration with Sarah Price, the designer of the Nurture Garden at the 2023 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, of which Monty Don said, “I’ve been coming to Chelsea for a very long time and I’m always looking for something that’s going to stop me in my tracks, that’s going to redefine everything that I thought I knew and make me see the world with fresh eyes. And I think this is one of those gardens… I’m coming away feeling inspired, surprised and delighted.” Nurture are donating plants and furniture to Benton End.
Our Gardens Committee, chaired by Polly Nicholson, includes Arne Maynard, Sarah Cook and Jim Marshall.
Cedric was also an environmental prophet, campaigning against the use of chemicals in horticulture from the 1960s. He would be delighted at the results of a 2024 biodiversity audit: ecologist Johnnie Johnson recorded 31 bird species including owls, red kites and dunnocks. There are 437 different invertebrates throughout the site including a nationally rare spider. Some of the mammals recorded included stoats, voles and nine species of bat. The garden is chemical free and working towards Soil Association status.
WHAT NEXT?
The walled garden has to be re-shaped and terraced, the paths laid, gates hung, walls repaired and painted, benches made, and Cedric’s pond restored. It will be made accessible for visitors with disabilities and for artists to work.
Mark Whyman Landscapes, an expert landscape contractor, won a recent tender process.
The Garden Museum is an independent charity and needs to have the funds in place before it can take the next step.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY DONATION?
Donations indicated as to ‘Benton End Walled Garden’ will be placed in a Restricted Fund for this purpose, and can only be spent on the walled garden, and necessary support costs, such as professional fees and project management of the construction.
WHAT ABOUT BENTON END HOUSE?
The walled garden renewal is the first phase of a vision to remake Benton End as a place of art, learning and horticulture inspired by Cedric and Lett’s vision of friendship and self-empowerment – but re-imagined for the world today. The house itself, built in 1520, will be restored and converted back into a fully accessible art and horticultural school, with residencies available for artists who wish to work with plants and nature: the Garden Museum is the one museum in Britain dedicated to telling the story of artists and gardens.
We will also create learning in plant science, gardening, flower arranging, food and of course drawing and painting. The house will be available for a multitude of uses from private hire, to residential courses to group visits and tours. Above the walled garden, the site (three acres in total) continues into woodland which will be sensitively managed to conserve the plethora of wildlife on site and allow for further horticultural and artistic endeavours to be undertaken.
This project will cost at least £5 million and we are currently applying to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a grant for £2.9 million. The walled garden can flourish independently of the bigger capital project.
We are just £242,000 away from that ‘paradise of pollen and paint,’ which was once thought lost, coming back to new life.
Please donate to the Benton End Walled Garden Appeal here: Donate to Benton End – Garden Museum
Lead image: Sarah Price visual of the renewed garden