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Gardening
In Your Garden Monthly gardening ideas and tasks by Andrew Staib, Principal Designer of Glorious Gardens Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden As a garden designer I have always attempted to design a garden without the need for sculpture, being wary that sculpture might detract from the beauty of the plants. However, after my visit to the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden, in nearby Dorking recently I have realised that not only can a sculpture really enhance the beauty of a garden but the design itself can be influenced by a particularly powerful piece of work and the plants complimented. Vikki Leedham first came across the garden when she went there on a school trip in the early 1990s. “I remember the founder, Hannah Peschar, being really scary, shouting out ‘Don’t Touch’ in her Dutch accent! But years later, after I graduated from art college, I applied for a placement here. I am now co-curator and gallery manager and I love it. I am called the queen of everything as I do pretty much every role here!” She beams with infectious passion over the glass desk in the simple office situated in the grounds of the sculpture park. “At any one time we have over 200 outdoor sculptures on display in our beautiful gardens. I and Anthony, Hannah’s husband, who designed the gardens over 35 years ago, select which artists we would like to exhibit, including quite a few European artists”. “Often I will go and visit them in their studios to get a better sense of their work. When the sculptures arrive, often driven in vans by the artists themselves, we get to work deciding where to put them and sometimes the daunting task of how to lift them! Compared to other artists, outdoor sculptors tend to
