04/05/2022
The Revival of Benton End: A Paradise of Pollen and Paint
Join us in our library at 7pm on Wednesday 4th May, when guests can meet Lucy Skellorn.
The home of celebrated artist-plantsman, Sir Cedric Morris and his lifelong partner, Arthur Lett-Haines is set for a revival.
Benton End in Hadleigh, Suffolk was a haven for artists and gardeners alike and where Cedric and Lett ran the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing. A place ‘outside the system’, the likes of Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling were amongst their alumni.
Cedric’s garden was a collector's cabinet of rare and unusual plants, revered by botanists and known to the iris fraternity for the 90 cultivars of bearded irises that he bred, many of which carry the Benton prefix.
Hear about the history of the garden during Cedric & Lett’s time and how it inspired artists and gardeners alike, going on to have a profound effect on 20th-century horticulture.
Lucy, trained in fine art, has a National Collection of historic irises and is a researcher for the Benton End House and Garden Trust, a subsidiary charity of the Garden Museum who recently acquired the house and its grounds, intent on turning it back into a place of study once more.
