Set in the heart of the Sussex Downs, Charleston Farmhouse is the most important remaining example of Bloomsbury decorative style. But the garden, described by Virginia Woolf on her arrival in 1916 as "charming. . . now run rather wild" became and remained central to life in the farmhouse. The walled garden, created by Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry from the vegetable garden after the war, as well as the pond, the orchard, and the lawns which shade off into the fields, all contributed in a major sense to the creative energies of the place. And this creativity is reflected in the numerous works of art in stone, in wood, in brick, and in ceramic that Bell, Fry, Duncan Grant, and the next generation notably Quentin Bell contributed to the garden to enhance (and sometimes to comment on or to counterpoint) the simple but expressive planting schemes. Now, for the first time, the year-round charm and glory of this most English and most artistic of gardens has been captured by one of Britain's leading garden photographers.
