In search of Edith Wharton’s ‘old garden magic’…
The Garden Seekers Project explores the past, present and future of formal gardens and their ability to provoke wonder and delight.
Essex Gardens Trust artist in residence Jane Frederick invites you to take an optical promenade through the great gardens of Essex, in search of the elusive ‘old garden magic’ described by American author Edith Wharton in her book Italian Villas and Their Gardens (1904).
Since 2021 Jane has been working closely with garden teams, archivists and curators to unravel and reimagine six captivating gardens all listed on the Essex Inventory of Historic Designed Landscapes prepared by Essex Gardens Trust. The residency period culminated in a program of creative public events and a site specific installation of painting, drawing and digital film which was showcased in the splendid Robert Adam rooms at Audley End House & Gardens in Essex from May 13th - October 29th.
Warley Place, Brentwood, Essex
Nymphaeum, Villa Gamberaia, Tuscany, Italy
Somerleyton Hall, Norfolk
Ellen Willmott (1858-1934), Horticulturalist, Warley Place, Essex
“A glorious vision into the past; ephemera, distortions of the passing of time- stunning! The longer one looks the more one sees… and thinks… a beautiful invocation of the past and overlaid with the present.”
— Visitor comments, Hamilton MAS, the micro art space by the sea, Felixstowe
