The 9th Garden Museum Literary Festival took place on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th June at Parham House and Garden in West Sussex and we were delighted to be part of it. This event is one of our absolute favourite events in the entire calendar and we would happily cross continents to attend. Indeed one other attendee had done just that, travelling from New York. We’d just travelled from south-west France.

Why do we like it so much?

It is always held in the most glorious of surroundings (previous venues include Petworth, Hatfield House, Chatsworth, Helmingham Hall, Houghton Hall, Boughton House). It is extremely well organised. The speaker programme is rich and varied. It supports the wonderful Garden Museum. Most importantly it brings together the great and the good of the horticultural world, landowners and philanthropists, writers and thinkers, and very ordinary passionate gardeners like us. And it does so in an environment which reassures us all that we have far more in common than anything that might separate us. It is a celebration of plants, design, gardens, nature, beauty, and thought, all with a light and accessible touch, and threaded with humour. Total numbers are capped at around 250 per day so the atmosphere is always intimate and friendly.

Previous years have taken us to locations far from home where we have enjoyed a long weekend away, often combining the Festival with other garden visits. Parham is close to our U.K. base in Sussex and it took a little getting used to that we were sleeping at home overnight!

With two parallel tracks of talks and conversations to choose from the frustration is that choosing one means one cannot go to the other. It would have been good to have been able to split in two and attend them all!

These are the sessions we chose to attend:

The King’s Gardens : Alan Titchmarsh
Came the Lightening: Twenty Poems for George : Olivia Harrison in conversation with Nicola Shulman
The Garden at Parham : Lady Emma and James Barnard, Todd Longstaffe-Gowan and Andrew Humphris
Castles and Swimming Pools : Amicia de Moubray and Christopher Woodward
Writing Gardens, Loving Gardening : Robin Lane Fox
A Garden Pattern Book : George Carter
The Use of Narratives in Gardens, a Personal View : Tom Stuart Smith
Nature as Cure : Rosie Kinchen and Sue Stuart Smith
Flowers for a Coronation, from Spry in 1953 to me in 2023 : Shane Connolly
All were stimulating, informative and very enjoyable.

We also joined a guided tour of the walled garden led by Andrew Humphris, head gardener.

We enjoyed delicious prebooked lunches, glasses of Pimms and sparkling Sussex wine, and much convivial conversation with other participants.

We also bought a number of books from the bookstall tent written by speakers which are now in the “to read” pile (a couple already read!).

We will book for next year’s Festival the second the opportunity arises (I’m already looking out for the email!).

You can find more information about the programme and speakers here https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/events/garden-museum-literary-festival-2023/

And more information about Parham House and Garden here https://www.parhaminsussex.co.uk

An interesting feature of Parham is the number of floral arrangements created in the house all from material grown in the garden. All arrangements are made with concern for the environment; no floral foam is used (just chicken wire).

Here are a few (snapped phone) photos

This trough with some rather zingy antirrhinums caught our attention

And here are some other photos from the gardens and grounds

The sun shone on us all throughout.

Huge thanks to Christopher Woodward, Garden Museum Director and his team, our warm and welcoming hosts Lady Emma and James Barnard, and all speakers and other participants who made the 2023 Festival at least as good as each one that had preceded it.

Here’s to our wonderful Garden Museum and the 2024 Festival.