Composition 20

I drove up to London, my little car laden with luscious vegetables and flowers
Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume I: 1918-1939)

A celebration of the English country house and the English country garden, personified by Henry ‘Chips’ Channon who grew flowers in his lavish garden at Kelvedon in Essex to decorate his London house at 5 Belgrave Square.

Popping up in the background between the blooms, is a picture of the house, from a painting above the fireplace in its hall. In fact, the whole composition was constructed at Kelvedon and the elements we see come from its collection: urns, a Georgian console, a chirpy wooden Roman soldier, a gilded clock and the two fathers of the Church, Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine as ecclesiastical wingmen.

Then there are the flowers! A total celebration to make the viewer swoon. Every colour and every variety play their part in the generous, classical arrangement that celebrates like no other the joys and effusiveness of Spring and the English country garden.