We were invited to lunch by the Stuart-Smiths to see the wonderful garden they have made in a strange bit of countryside sandwiched between the M1 and Hemel Hempstead: part semi-formal garden, part wilderness, with banks of high flowers in beds, a meadow planted with north American prairie plants and an immaculate vegetable garden. This is the semi-formal garden:
It being nearly summer, people are sitting out having lunch in the Keeper’s House garden at the RA. It was designed (at spectacularly short notice) by Tom Stuart-Smith. He has just had an exhibition of his drawings at the gallery at the back of Alan Baxter’s offices in Cowcross Street. Not only does he conceptualise all his projects through drawings, but he requires all his staff to do so as well. He won the contract through a beautifully presented drawing done not by him, but by a member of his staff. It’s a skill which may have lost currency in art teaching, but remains a pleasure to behold:
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 