Wisley Gardens
Popular Sculpture Event Returns to RHS Garden Wisley for 21st year
23/07/18 23:01 Filed in: What's On
The Surrey Sculpture Society (SSS) will be staging its 21st Sculpture Trail at RHS Garden Wisley from 18th August - 23rd September - one of the most popular exhibitions of sculpture in the country.
Visitors to the sculpture trail will discover a diverse range of works, from abstract to traditional pieces, thoughtfully positioned throughout the RHS garden’s 240 acres, within 25 inspirational garden settings. Sculptures created by the Society’s emerging and professional sculptors will be placed around the garden’s iconic Jellicoe Canal feature, through the woodland walk at Battleston Hill and the Mediterranean Terraces, Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden, Alpine Meadow, Exotic and Cottage Gardens.Henriette Van der Does, Chair of the SSS commented: ‘The Arts Council recently compiled some interesting figures on the increasing numbers of people visiting sculpture events. Last year the Surrey Sculpture Society experienced higher visitor numbers to all of our events resulting in our most successful year since we began. We are hoping that our 21st annual Sculpture Trail at RHS Garden Wisley will attract even more visitors, as there seems to be a growing desire for people to get outside to reconnect with nature and discover art in beautiful settings.’
The range of styles by these talented sculptors creates affordable and original pieces that can form eye-catching focal points in gardens, conservatories or interiors. Sculptors work with a broad range of materials including stone, metal, bronze, resin, glass, ceramic, wood and found objects. All sculptures are for sale.
Renowned Sculptor invited as guest exhibitor
To celebrate the 21st sculpture trail at RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey Sculpture Society has invited renowned sculptor Michael Speller, official artist for the London Olympics, as a special guest exhibitor. His beautifully balanced slender sculptural figures are often impressed with emotive words. One of his most recent commissions combined 210 figures to form a huge open bronze sphere for The Crown Charity, Greenwich Hospital, London.
Michael’s work has also formed the centre piece of gold medal winning show garden at RHS Chelsea.
Henriette Van der Does commented: ‘We are very excited about having such an accomplished and highly respected sculptor as Michael Speller exhibiting with us in our 21st year at RHS Garden Wisley,’
Belinda Betts, Head of Site at RHS Garden Wisley, said: “The Surrey Sculpture Society Trail is a popular attraction for many of our visitors. Now in its 21st year, the trail continues to showcase a diverse variety of sculptures within the beautiful setting of the garden in late summer. Look for the sculptures as you wander through the garden and discover an exciting new perspective.”
Admission to the Sculpture Trail is included in entrance to RHS Garden Wisley.
The exhibition opens on 18th August and will run until 23 September.
Opening times: Monday to Friday 10am – 6pm, Saturday – Sunday and Bank Holidays 9am – 6pm
RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB
Tel: 01483 224234 or www.rhs.org.uk/wisley for details of entrance fees.
For information on Surrey Sculpture Society visit www.surreysculpture.org.uk
Get set to grow at RHS Garden Wisley’s Family Gardening Festival
20/04/18 12:05 Filed in: What's On
Fun-packed event runs from 26 May to 3 June
To celebrate the start of the warmer months, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Garden Wisley is hosting a fun-packed Family Gardening Festival, from 26 May to 3 June 2018.Running during May half-term, the family event has a ‘Get Set, Grow!’ theme, with a wide variety of activities taking place throughout the week. Kids can get hands-on with garden themed activities and crafts, such as sow and grow workshops, potato and spoon races, face painting, and tree climbing. There will also be puppet shows, storytelling sessions, a ‘Vegetable Olympics’ and a ‘Mole Hill’ area with pedal-powered tractors. Additionally, fascinating Birds of Prey demonstrations will take place on Seven Acres at 11am and 2pm on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 May.
As visitors walk around the Festival and take in the horticultural highlights of the season, they can gain expert advice from the RHS Science Team. Exhibitors include the National Vegetable Society and Surrey Bees, who will provide honey tastings, bee-themed activities and have a variety of wax products for sale.
While at the Family Gardening Festival, families can go on a garden adventure trail, sponsored by Honda, to look for the hidden Miimos - Honda’s clever robotic lawnmowers – along the way.
Take a break to refuel during the Festival with a tasty bite to eat, including ice cream and barbequed treats. There is also plenty of room to enjoy a family picnic in the great outdoors.
Normal garden entry applies; events and activities are suitable for all the family. For further information and to view the daily programme of activities, visit www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley.
RHS Garden Wisley
18/08/15 12:45 Filed in: What's On
Hosts Surrey Sculpture Society Trail
22 August – 27 September 2015RHS Garden Wisley welcomes the Surrey Sculpture Society into its beautiful grounds for the annual Surrey Sculpture Society Trail. This event brings together unique art works created by some of the most renowned artists, both established and emerging, from the South East.
The sculpture trail will open to the public on 22 August and run until 27 September 2015. Visitors to RHS Garden Wisley will discover a wide range of sculptures located throughout the grounds. The sculptures are made in stone, metal, bronze, resin, glass, ceramic, wood and found objects, and will be available to buy for a range of prices.
Teresa Martin, Surrey Sculpture Society’s exhibition manager for the event, said: “The Sculpture Trail at the RHS Garden Wisley in 2015 will echo some of the surreal aspects of the Alice in Wonderland garden with a diminutive ceramic merchant’s house and highly magnified plant forms on the Rock Garden that play with your sense of scale. There are intriguing and enchanting modelled forms cast with durable metal resins and some glorious celebratory shapes carved in stone, while the glass sculptures are stunning this year. The sad and the joyful aspects of our world are touched on by the artists, and some will definitely make visitors smile as they wander through the trail and find another piece round a corner in these magnificent gardens.”
Stephanie Fudge, Head of RHS Garden Wisley, said, “The Surrey Sculpture Trail at RHS Garden Wisley is an extremely popular event. The art is so beautifully presented and visitors can enjoy the garden setting at its best with the Mixed Borders in full flower. We enjoy seeing the sculptures change each year, and we love working with the Surrey Sculpture Society.”
Enjoy the delights of the trail when you visit for the floral extravaganza of the late-summer RHS Wisley Flower Show, 8 – 13 September, and the creative inspiration from spectacular colour of the the spectacular colour of the varied late-summer plantings throughout the garden.
Normal garden entry applies. For more information visit www.rhs.org.uk
RHS Garden Wisley
03/07/15 17:25 Filed in: What's On
Summer Adventures in Wonderland at RHS Garden Wisley 22 July – 31 August 2015.
Don’t be late for a jam-packed summer of Adventures in Wonderland at Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Garden Wisley, Surrey. Join the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with free family activities every day.
In the same year that plantsman and former President of the RHS Edward Augustus Bowles was born, Lewis Carroll created the nonsensical and magical world of Wonderland. EA Bowles, too, harboured a passion for the weird and wonderful, and famously had an area in his garden devoted to his botanical curiosities. Bowles’ Corner at RHS Garden Wisley pays homage to this great plantsman with a selection of ‘interesting’ woodland plants.
This summer, discover a world of wonder at Wisley inspired by the logic-twisting tale of Lewis Carroll, sponsored by Witan Investment Trust. Enjoy horticultural highlights come rain or shine, outstanding mixed borders, fragrant rose gardens and sensational panoramas creating a feast for the senses. You’ll be welcomed to Wonderland with an Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Top Terrace bedding scheme. Admire the wacky and wonderful design. Clashing colours and the White Rabbit lead you from reality to Wonderland, where you’ll find a 3-D sculpture of a caterpillar relaxing on a mushroom. This design was created by Wisley second-year horticulture Diploma students.
Explore, cook, play and plant your way to the perfect summer with gardening-inspired activities for all ages. Free activities include gardening, arts and crafts, music, theatre and puppet shows. Have an ‘un-birthday’ with a session of Eat Me, Drink Me cookery, or face painting on Tuesdays (payable and bookable in advance).
Follow the clues for curiouser and curiouser encounters throughout the garden with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat – and, of course, Alice herself. Discover the many bronze sculptures by the renowned Robert James Workshop around the garden. Take on the adventure, explore down the rabbit-hole willow tunnels, play flamingo croquet… you’ll be grinning like a Cheshire Cat this summer at Wisley.
2015 is the Year of the Sunflower, and this summer you’ll spot lots of them around the garden. From single blooms to multi-headed, toddler-sized to several metres tall, sunflowers are diverse. The giant flowers will be just like being in Wonderland. All over Europe many gardens as well as trials gardens will be celebrating the wide variation and uses of sunflowers. At RHS Garden Wisley you’ll see dwarf sunflowers in containers, agricultural, border and cut sunflowers for an RHS Award of Garden Merit trial. Be sure to vote for your favourite in the RHS People’s Choice during the summer months.
Eat the Queen of Hearts’ jam tarts at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Picnic
Join Alice and her friends for fun and entertainment at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Picnic. Wear your most creative hat and gather your friends! Pick up a picnic including your jam tart. Seating is limited: pre-booking and pre-payment will be required. For more information visit www.rhs.org.uk. Normal garden admission applies.
Bring your family along for a full day of fun every day of the holidays. Activities each day, some bookable in advance, visit www.rhs.org.uk for what’s on when.