RHS Healer’s Hollow explores the use of plants as medicine in a feature garden at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival
Discover RHS Healer’s Hollow: Celebrating Plant Folklore and Healing
Inspired by centuries of plant stories and traditional herbal medicine, RHS Healer’s Hollow invites visitors to reconnect with nature. This garden shows how plants have helped people’s health and wellbeing for many years. Moreover, it highlights the natural healing power of plants and old wisdom.
Meet the Creators of RHS Healer’s Hollow
Award-winning designers Emily Grayshaw and Jude Yeo from Inspired Earth Design in Godalming created this garden. After winning two gold medals and a Best in Show award at earlier RHS events, the RHS asked them to design this special garden. Their work focuses on the strong bond between people and plants, showing how nature can heal us.
Healing Stories Told Through Garden Design
The garden centres on Gaia, a wise healer who lives off the grid in a handmade shepherd’s hut. Through Gaia’s story, visitors learn about both old and new ways of using plants for health. For example, the garden is a calm space filled with plants known for their healing and traditional uses. It encourages everyone to explore natural remedies that have helped people for centuries.
A Closer Look at the Garden’s Features
Emily and Jude worked with local artists to create many garden features. These include botanical artwork, natural materials, and the handmade shepherd’s hut. Each element serves a purpose and tells part of the garden’s story. Additionally, the designers consulted a historical herbologist and a medicinal horticulture lecturer. Their expertise helped ensure the garden’s authenticity and educational value.
Bringing Healing to the Community
After the festival ends, parts of RHS Healer’s Hollow will move to Farncombe Community Garden near Godalming. This space, supported by local doctors, promotes social prescribing. It encourages patients and community members to engage with nature for better physical and mental health. In fact, their goal is to foster “growing community wellbeing” through gardens and green spaces.
Love going to the theatre but no one to go with? Adam Green set up West End Outings to make the joy of live performance more accessible for all
A Theatre Community for Everyone West End Outings began in 2019 when Woking-based Adam Green started a small Facebook group for friends wanting to enjoy theatre without going alone. Over time, this grew into one of the UK’s most vibrant LGBTQ+ theatre communities.
More Than Just Theatre The group offers more than theatre visits. It includes All Together socials, women’s groups, Over 50s gatherings, and weekend getaways. These activities help people connect, save money, and find a safe space to meet new friends from across the country.
About Adam Green Adam has hosted over 135 events in three years. Many locals may remember him as the pianist at Woking New Victoria Theatre. Before that, he spent a decade acting in the West End. He wants everyone, whether single, couples, or families, to feel welcomed and excited about theatre.
How to Get Involved West End Outings started on Facebook but now reaches members through Instagram, its website, and even a mobile app. A yearly membership lets people book as many events as they like. Recently, they privately booked three London theatres, giving members a unique chance to enjoy shows together.
Building Community After the Pandemic Since the pandemic, many have lost social connections due to remote work and fewer local groups. West End Outings fills that gap by offering a friendly, inclusive place where theatre lovers can reconnect and make lasting friendships.
If you would like more information, please click here, or drop a message here.
Fame, pop culture and commercialism are all explored in this major exhibition of Andy Warhol’s work over two floors at the Lightbox
Andy Warhol created some of the most iconic images of the 20th century, securing his place as one of the most influential artists in history. This summer, Lightbox Gallery presents an Andy Warhol exhibition that features major works by the pop art icon. In partnership with Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland, many of these works are being shown in Surrey for the first time.
The exhibition runs from July 19th to November 2nd. It showcases around 100 works, spread across two floors. The collection is part of ARTIST ROOMS, a national collection owned by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland. These works represent some of Warhol’s most significant contributions to the art world.
Inside Warhol’s World
Warhol (1928-1987) was fascinated by fame, popular culture, consumerism, and mass production. His work challenged traditional views of fine art. He blurred the lines between art and everyday life, making it more accessible.
The exhibition takes you through Warhol’s evolution. It starts with his early studies in the 1940s, then moves to the 1950s when he worked as a commercial illustrator. This led to his rise in the 1960s as a pop art icon. His obsession with fame, celebrity, and mass media became central to his work.
Iconic Portraits and Hidden Gems
The exhibition features Warhol’s famous 1967 screenprints of Marilyn Monroe. You’ll also see portraits of Elizabeth Taylor, The Beatles, and many more. These pieces highlight Warhol’s fascination with celebrity culture.
Additionally, you’ll discover portraits of fellow artists like Gilbert & George (1975), Joseph Beuys (1980), and Robert Mapplethorpe (1983). These works reveal Warhol’s admiration for his peers.
The first floor displays Warhol’s larger works. They capture his vibrant use of color and scale. On the second floor, you’ll find rare drawings and photographs that offer a closer look at his creative process.
Warhol and Mortality
The exhibition also explores Warhol’s confrontation with mortality, especially after his near-fatal shooting in 1968. Many of his works include symbols of death, such as guns, skulls, and war imagery. Warhol used Polaroid and 35mm cameras to document the world around him. His self-portraits and candid shots of friends and celebrities provide a personal insight into his life.
A Lasting Legacy
Sarah Brown, Director at Lightbox Gallery, says: “A decade after our last Warhol show, we are excited to welcome his work back to the gallery. His influence on contemporary culture is undeniable. This exhibition offers a fresh chance to engage with one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century.”
The men’s choir invite you to come along to their summer concert at St Thomas-on-The Bourne in Farnham on 28th June.
The concert, featuring show tunes, well-known ballads and songs, is in aid of the charity Sebastian’s Action Trust.
Sebastian’s Action Trust supports families of seriously ill children, offering emotional, practical, and social care through every stage of their journey. It offers respite breaks for families at their specialist centre in Hampshire where they can enjoy support and fun activities.
Our choir is a group of about 60 men from North Hampshire and West Surrey who love to sing. We enjoy entertaining our audiences, raising money for local charities, and having fun while we are doing it.
The choir was set up in 1960 to compete in the Aldershot Music Festival and as it was made up of volunteers from many backgrounds with an odd one from here and an odd one from there, we were originally named the “Odd Fellows Male Voice Choir”. That is still a name some remember locally, but now that we recruit and perform in a wider area we have been renamed as “The Hampshire and Surrey Hills Men’s Choir”.
We organise two major concerts a year, one in the summer and one near Christmas. At these we select a local charity to support and usually have guest performers to make for an eventful evening. Throughout the rest of the year, we are invited to sing for a variety of functions, in village halls, theatres and churches across Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. We are sometimes invited to join other choirs in events outside our area and have even sung at The Royal Albert Hall in a massed choir concert on several occasions.
The music we sing is wide ranging, from classical anthems to show tunes and popular songs of the 20th and 21st centuries. Our repertoire is carefully selected to suit a variety of tastes and be fun and enjoyable for the singers as well as the audience. We are not a religious affiliated organisation although we do sing some religious pieces of music. We even have some musical items specially arranged for us.
You do not need to be an experienced singer to join us. We don’t audition you or expect you to read music when you start with us. Our highly talented Music Director and teacher will help you develop the skills of singing and reading music if you are willing to give it a try and put the work in. With his guidance, and the willing support of your fellow choir members you will soon be reaping the joy and health benefits of singing in a choir.
What are you doing this month? How about taking on the June Triple Challenge or having a go at dragon boat racing, all in aid of Woking & Sam Beare Hospice
Three consecutive weekends of fundraising events begin with the Open Water Swim Challenge on June 14th before riders take to their bikes for the Downslink Challenge on 21st and finish with the Go Grab Life Walk on 29th.
Swim in the serene surroundings of Shepperton Lake in the 400metre swim challenge for those who have previously experienced open water swimming and are over the age of 18. If you haven’t done open water swimming before, you will need to contact Shepperton Lake for an induction swim to go through safety rules followed by a swim test to ensure you are confident and comfortable swimming in an open water environment.
Back on dry land, it’s time to tackle the challenging 83-mile off-road cycle ride from Worplesdon to Shoreham-on-Sea and back again along the scenic Downslink Trail. This is a serious endurance ride, expect around eight hours in the saddle but you’ll be rewarded with superb scenery, and a professional support team to keep you motivated and safe. There’s the option to do a shorter 50-mile version too.
If you prefer a ‘gentler’ challenge then perhaps the Go Grab Life Walk at De Vere Horsley Estate is for you. You’ll be enveloped in history and heritage at every turn on the 4km or 8km (two laps) route around the estate taking in Horsely Towers and the lake.
The name Go Grab Life was inspired by patient Nicky Newman, a breast cancer campaigner who shared her journey on social media. Her positive and honest outlook inspired others to “Go Grab Life” and make precious memories. Nicky was cared for by the hospice in 2023, providing palliative care to her whilst living at home before coming into the hospice.As Nicky said: “Go Grab Life, you never truly know what is coming round the corner, so don’t take anything for granted.”
The walk is at 11am and includes free parking and entry to the Big Day Out, a family fun afternoon with live music, kids activities, food and drink and a classic car show also at Horsley Towers.
With your support Woking & Sam Beare Hospice can continue to care for patients and their families when they need it most.
June begins with the wacky fun of the Dragon Boat Races at Goldsworth Park Lakes on 8th. Get your Dragon Boat teams of family, friends, colleagues or team mates together and see if you can be crowned ‘champions of the lake’.Teams must be a minimum of 13 people (12 rowers plus a drummer) up to a maximum of 17 (16 rowers and a drummer), with a minimum of 3 races for each team.
There’ll be stalls, refreshments including Pimms, a tombola, hot food and children’s activities to enjoy too. Please visit wsbh.org.uk/event/dragon-boat-races/ for more & to enter.
There’s something HUGE happening in local parks in Surrey this summer
Imagine this: You step into your local park and suddenly find yourself in a world where dinosaurs roam, fairies dance among the flowers, and robots bounce about in every direction!
Your curiosity pulls you into an epic quest where you dodge a raptor, rescue kittens, save the ocean from an evil mermaid, and buzz around as a honeybee collecting pollen! What if I told you this could really happen?
Magical Park will transform our local parks into fantastical worlds where kids (6+) can complete game missions, interact with magical creatures and learn about nature—all through smartphones or tablets. It’s designed to get kids active outdoors, learning about science and nature while having fun! This augmented reality game is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, and it’s FREE for all families to enjoy.
Each park features 5 unique games, with a total of 10 to discover across different locations. Depending on where you visit, you might uncover adventures like Ocean Clean Up, Alienscape, Prehistoria, Arctic Explorer, or Evergreen. Exploring multiple parks will reveal even more games and experiences!
Magical Park encourages you to run, jump, and chase—a great way to get moving while learning and having fun. The experiences are designed to challenge and inspire players, encouraging them to think critically and creatively. For example, some games test problem-solving skills, such as when participants work to rebuild robots or outwit cheeky characters by figuring out the right steps. In rescue missions, children develop empathy as they help save animals or clean up pollution. In Evergreen, they discover the importance of recycling, as they must return rubbish to the right trees to help the environment. Along the way, players uncover fascinating nature and animal facts, while the interactive challenges deepen their understanding of how to protect our natural world
Immerse yourself in Magical Park in:
Aldershot
Carrington Recreation Ground
Albury
Albury Sports Club
Bramley
Bramley Park
Chilworth
Sports Field Brookswood
Cranleigh
Village Way (Cranleigh Leisure Centre)
Effingham
King George V Playground
Egham
Runnymede Pleasure Ground
Farnham
Farnham Park
Fetcham
Kennel Lane Football Pitch
Frimley Green
Frimley Green Recreation Ground
Godalming
The Burys Field
Guildford
George Abbot Football Pitches, Onslow Playground, Stoke Park – Guildford Spectrum end, Stoke Park – Guildford College end, Stoughton Recreation Ground, Worplesdon Rangers Football Club, Shalford Park, Kirke Fields
Sussex Road Recreation Ground, Pyrford Common Recreation Ground, St Johns Lye
This one-of-a-kind experience is only available for a limited time—don’t miss out! Visit your nearest Magical Park until September 2nd.
Just download the app from App Store or Play Store, find your nearest Magical Park in Surrey using the app’s map feature or visit the Magical Park website for a list of active parks. Once you’re at the park, enable mobile data, hotspot, or Wi-Fi before playing.
Liz Allard tells us what to expect as this year’s extravaganza gets under way later this month celebrating the best of young local talent
The Godalming Performing Arts Festival is held each year in February and March and provides performance opportunities for students of all ages in dance, music and speech & drama.
As usual, this year the dance element will be the first event in the festival held between 17th and 22nd February at St Catherine’s School, Bramley, in their splendid auditorium. The dance classes will be a visual feast as they include solos, duets, trios/quartets and larger groups in various different genres such as ballet, contemporary, jazz, musical theatre and tap. There is something there for everybody. Music, which covers events for piano, organ, strings, and wind & brass, is scheduled at various dates and venues between 2nd and 23rd March in and around Godalming, with Speech & Drama classes held on 16th March at St Hilary’s School in Godalming.
Tickets available
Audiences are always welcome, with admission charges from £3 for adults (children free), with full details of the festival timetable and venues on our website: Godalming Performing Arts Festival
Competitive music festivals like this have an important role in education allowing performances in front of an audience and to obtain feedback from an expert adjudicator, a valuable experience which can build confidence. Early practice at performing in public is especially important for students considering a career in the performing arts , and many past participants at Godalming have entered the profession. For example, the 2025 organ adjudicator, Jonathan Hope, was a teenage competitor and is now Assistant Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral. Some competitors in previous festivals now teach and send their own pupils to participate. Adult amateurs are also catered for, with classes for all levels of attainment.
Minimum pressure, maximum encouragement
Not everyone enjoys a competitive setting, and with that in mind the current syllabuses for the music sections now include non-competitive classes designed to give minimum pressure and maximum encouragement to all students. There are non-competitive classes aimed at those taking the Associated Board grade exams, and also classes for small ensemble performances (2-9 players) which can be treated as practice for GCSE music syllabus.
The Godalming Festival is run by a committee of volunteers who take on various portfolios. Chairman Mike Goodridge explains: “Our festival relies on the good services of numerous volunteers, without whom this festival could not take place. I hope that the volunteers get enjoyment in knowing that they are supporting budding artistic young people and can listen to their music, watch their dance and listen to their speech. The young participants get so much out of it, which gives great satisfaction to our volunteers who don’t necessarily have to be musicians themselves.”
Get involved
As the scope of the festival continues to grow, we are always looking for people to join in the organisation and stewards are always required to successfully run the events. If you are interested in getting involved in any way with the festival, contact details are on our website: Godalming Performing Arts Festival
Virginia Water mum Victoria Fearnley is obsessed with tidiness and organisation and can help you restore order to chaos with Surrey Decluttering
How often have you looked in that cupboard or opened a door to a room only to close it and walk away overwhelmed by the chaos inside?
You need to invite Victoria Fearnley round to ‘remove clutter, restore order and create a well-functioning home’. Through her business Surrey Decluttering she gets to ‘combine my passion for helping people with an obsession for tidiness and organisation.”
Since September 2020 Victoria has helped clients create better functioning homes in stress-free environments. Drawing on her scientific background and career in R&D she makes the most of her keen eye for detail and innovative and creative skills to come up with storage solutions and decluttering hacks.
She explains: “I provide decluttering, re-organising and tidying of any spaces and rooms within your home, including lofts, garages and sheds. I will also provide light cleaning to the areas of your home that I work on.”
She always brings her ‘decluttering kit’ which includes bin bags, labels, cardboard boxes, parcel tape etc and there’s no charge for any small items for her kit she uses.
Victoria also offers complementary services such as assembling new storage solutions (e.g. IKEA furniture), putting up shelves and re-painting a cleared-out room. Just tell her what you want doing and she’ll help if she can!
Originally from a small village in Sweden, she was by her own admission always a ‘tidy’ child, adding: “I would often re-arrange the content of my wardrobes and things on my shelves just for fun! Please don’t judge me – we didn’t have electronic devices or daytime TV back then!
“Having been brought up in Sweden, I love regular visits to IKEA, who doesn’t? I love making up their furniture and finding new storage solutions. It might be my Swedish heritage that made me a keen DIY-er, so typically I always have a new project on the go!”
Among Victoria’s top tips are: • Start small with a 30-minute declutter session, focus on one area at a time, a wardrobe or kitchen drawers • Seasonal sorting – what to store, what to keep as the seasons change, pack away clothing you know you won’t need and rotate with that which will be worn • Declutter high traffic areas of your home notably hallways and kitchens, try instead keeping a basket or box in those areas to gather together items which accumulate quickly
Find out more about how Victoria can help you have the tidy clutter-free home you’ve always wanted at surreydecluttering.co.uk
Liz Nicholls chats to interior designer, dad & grandad Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, 59, who has helped design Rangeford Villages’ new luxury retirement villages, with his daughter Hermione
Watch the full interview here:
Q. Hello Laurence! How do you like to be addressed?! “Whoa, gosh that’s such a question. ‘Laurence’ is very cool, I’ve always liked being a Laurence… I was nearly a Lancelot; that was a good swerve to be honest. My father, who hankered thoughts that I’d play rugby for Wales, wanted me to be a Gareth.”
Q. Do people constantly misspell your name? “Yes, but I’m very relaxed about it. Y’know, ‘Laurence’ is nothing like as complicated as ‘Llewelyn’ so thank the Lord for small mercies! I regret the fact that Dr Johnson brought in spelling. It would all be much better if we just made it all up.”
Q. Can you tell us how you came to lend your peacock flourishes to Rangeford’s new retirement villages in Surrey & the Cotswolds? “It’s a very organic relationship, happenstance! Rangeford were building in Siddington, on the edge of my village. I work with Hermione and, as an almost 60-year-old myself, I feel the way forward for my generation is to entice people into a relationship with retirement living that’s based much more closely on boutique hotels rather than caravan parks. Just because you’re a specific number, just because you’ve had a specific amount of birthdays, and you have quite so many rings that you can see when you’re cut in half like a tree, that doesn’t mean that the design volume knob should be turned down. Older people are not frightened by design.
This is such an extraordinary odd and Western European attitude! Anywhere else in the world, being senior is seen as a ‘flowering’, as a moment of great accomplishment, a moment when everything you’ve created throughout your life can be celebrated. You celebrate that through colour and commitment, excitement, opulence! Unbeknown to us, that’s absolutely where Rangeford see themselves, too. I found it incredibly refreshing to find a company that understood this. My generation of Boomers who saw the Sex Pistols live don’t want to be shuffled into some ghastly oatmeal trailer park. Actually what we want is somewhere that keeps us active, diverted and alive! So many studies show that the more social contact we have the older we get, the longer we live. So as far as I was concerned it was the creation of a design landscape that drew all its inspiration from contemporary hospitality. I also wanted to reflect a lot of the things I love, especially since this first one was Cotswold-based, and to have a bit of an Arts & Crafts hat on. At the moment people are very interested in this. They see a Brit design legacy that’s not only worth celebrating but ridiculously rare.
We don’t have many things we can put our ‘Britain is Cool’ hat on for, other than William Morris and [Thomas] Chippendale. What William Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement did was incredibly influential throughout the world. It all comes from [Morris’s] love of nature. I think that’s one of the main inspirations from the Rangeford projects: they’re all about the exuberance of nature at its most engorged, its healthiest, its most vibrant, when you get as much chlorophyll as you possibly can. I wanted to create an environment that’s… chlorophyllaceous, if that’s a word! The interesting thing behind all of this, and what’s a big moment for me as an elderly ‘designosaur’ (and also for my business) is the point when Hermione is taking over as that arbiter, that figurehead.
This – we found out recently – is what happened with Williams and May Morris. When May Morris took over the business at the beginning of the 20th century suddenly it became a different and very successful proposition. What Hermione’s been enjoying with the installation in Surrey is that people come over and go “oooh gosh!”. There is that slight assumption that a Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen interior is going to be too tricky to live with, too many notes, too much colour, too stimulating! But this is good in the context of Rangeford. To everyone who’s said ‘ooh I actually love this’ she can say ‘yes that’s because it’s Hermione Llewelyn-Bowen, not Laurence! Hermione believes in a more holistic way. She feels that what she’s doing with my pattern legacy is to create spaces that have energy and vibrancy but aren’t necessarily full of… ‘poisonous looking weedy things’ as she calls them.”
Q. I’ve read that you live with your children & grandchildren, which sounds idyllic! Can you tell us about this multigenerational living arrangement? “In many ways it’s mirroring what I’m doing with Rangeford. They have this brilliant concept which is to encourage their buyers to see what they’re doing not as ‘downsizing’ but ‘rightsizing’. They want their buyers to think about creating a way of living that’s right for the physical resources they have. And, much more importantly, that hardwires the physical resources they’ll have in ten years or 20 years. What’s important for my generation is that you cannot be in denial about growing older. You cannot keep wearing the sportswear you were wearing when you were 20. You can’t keep the Oasis mullet that you sported when you were 20. You have to go with the flow slightly. Noël Coward had the most brilliant expression: he said you have to invite old age in and give it a cocktail. In other words you make it a very gentle transition rather than a point of crisis, a moment when your life is turned upside down.
And that’s very much what we are doing at home in terms of the way Jackie and I live; we’re occupying a fraction of what was a very large space for us on our own, but we’re tailoring it to suit everything that we enjoy. The other side of the house is lived in by Hermione and her husband and their two children and then Cecily and her husband and their two children live in a garage block on the other side of the courtyard. So we are the rock and roll Waltons! We do have that moment of ‘good night john boy’ and all of that stuff. Our grandchildren are an incredibly important part of our daily lives. Our children are intertwined with everything that we do – we work together and Cecily’s husband Dan is our commercial director, and I’m about to do a big publishing project with Cecile. We are literally living above the shop. That feels like it’s such a strange and anachronistic thing in this day and age but I actually think it’s a natural state of grace. This is exactly how families operated in the world, before the 20th century’s obsession with urbanity forced everyone to abandon the nest and leave it to the old crows, only returning occasionally. We are there supporting each other and it means Cecile and Hermione can spread their wings and be who they want to be. They’ve got the incredible safety net and support of Jackie who’s very much there for the children and for them. Meanwhile, of course for us, a stated scientific fact, people live longer and happier when they have as much access to younger people as possible, rather than being confined to somewhere that’s all about you and your generation. My grandchildren are growing up in an incredibly lively, vigorous space when they have cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, all very much a part of the daily tribe.”
Q. I did laugh when I saw your post on Instagram, saying you and Jackie were in Venice, spending the kids’ inheritance! Are you a romantic couple? And will you be celebrating Valentine’s Day this month? “We are incredibly romantic. And no, Valentines Day isn’t a big deal. I always feel that if you wait a year to do something romantic and thoughtful you’ve got something wrong there. We’re so lucky, we met each other at 19. So many people we know, in their sixties, they’ve only just met ‘the one’, but they haven’t got much of their life to spend together. We’ve done everything together: we’ve grown up together, we’ve built businesses together, we’ve taken risks, not doing programmes, doing other programmes, putting out product ranges, relaunching wallpaper in 1999, in the absolute teeth of the wallpaper depression when no one was buying wallpaper… I’ve always felt empowered, stabilised to do these things because I had my life, my real life, my home life. I was going home to an incredibly safe and secure environment so I felt safe. It encouraged me to be more ‘me’. This is something my daughters have said: they are now making some exciting decisions about who they are, what they a re and what they do. They’ve got this stable, rock-like foundation to be whoever they want to be. A lot of their friends, people their age, they’re querulous and very uncommitted to trying new things, because they’re still looking for that great relationship. Get on with that! Find the right one who allows you to be who you are!”
Q. You won our hearts on television. Do you watch much telly? “It makes me laugh with my sons-in-law because they have these enormous televisions, as their generation is wont, which we’re always trying to find concealments for when we’re doing interiors. And yet all these enormous televisions play is Peppa Pig and Bluey: they’re not there to watch international sport or nature documentaries at all. They’re being wasted on computer-generated animation. I rather like Bluey. I find it hard not to watch Bluey without having a little tear. I’m often being crawled on by grandchildren and we all find it very emotional – it’s a powerful watch! Of course, at the moment, we’re all over Jilly Cooper’s Rivals which is about where we live.”
Q. Yes! Rutshire, haha! Do you know Jilly? “Yes! I was sitting next to her a couple of nights ago, trying to convince her that she was almost certainly related to Daisy May Cooper, which would be two polar opposites here in the Cotswolds. Jilly and I have always got on very very well. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never read any of her books. Rivals is not only set where we live and reeks horribly true on many social levels but it’s also giving me the most phenomenal PTSD from the 1980s. That was very much an era when Jackie and I were at these parties and doing that naughty thing, and it’s brought it all back, rather…”
Q. Speaking of the 1980s, I wonder whether you think there is such a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste? “Basically, there is no such thing as good or bad taste. This is peculiarly British obsession, one that was created – if you want to be very boring about it – by the Earl of Burlington in 1720. That aside, it’s a class obsession because there was a general indoctrination that supposed that the ‘posher’ you were, the better your taste was, which is absolute rubbish! Particularly if you live in the Cotswolds; the poshest people have the most terrible taste most of time. Taste should always be subjective, in fact taste is a word I’ve never used. Taste suggests, etymologically, that it’s decided by committee. Style is a much more interesting word: it comes from the Latin ‘stylus’ which means pen. It implies that style is something you write, you change to suit yourself, and I think finding your own style is a much more important obsession than trying to achieve good taste. Half the time, particularly in Britain there’s an obsession with taste and avoiding bad taste so that you end up with no taste at all, and that’s absolutely what happened in the ’90s!”
Q. What’s the favourite interior you’ve ever visited, Laurence? “Oh, big question. I mean, I’ve just come back from Venice, as you say, which has a lot to see. I get very excited by interiors that tell stories, unlike the mass-produced ones with delusions of blandeur! When you see the same kind of colour scheme and the same kind of irritating inability to engage, they’re very unstimulating spaces. Inevitably historical rooms tell you a lot. Venice is a very interesting place because style was always unhindered. You never had to worry about being attacked Barbarians or Goths here because you were in an island in the middle of a lagoon. So you were allowed to show off as much as you bloody well wanted! There was no upper limit to showing off. Meanwhile, you were fantastically wealthy, you had access to incredible craftsmen, incredible artists, incredible materials. So a Venetian room is an act of a self-aggrandisement. And I find it very difficult not to fall in love with that kind of expressive aesthetic.”
Q. If you had a magic wand, what would you wish for? “For everyone to have a magic wand.”
Q. Do you have a favourite piece of music? “I like a lot of contemporary film music and gaming music, weirdly, including classical and opera. I continue to be very fond of artists like Goldfrapp. I tend not to like too much pop but my playlist is bonkers and eccentric; it’s like a dressing up box of extraordinary stuff from here there and everywhere.”
Q. Final question! You dress beautifully, including today. Are you always dapper or do you sometimes just chuck a pair of joggers on!? “No. I will put on pyjamas and a dressing gown which I think is very appropriate. But the current obsession with ‘comfort’, I don’t really understand. Wear clothes that suit you, fit you, and you can keep them on. The idea that you’re just going home to watch Gogglebox is appalling… that was the taste police talking, wasn’t it!”
Annual run returns on March 2nd to raise vital funds for Royal Surrey Charity
The annual University of Surrey Charity Run is back! This much-anticipated event, organised in collaboration with Spaceways Storage and the Royal Surrey Charity, invites friends, families, and the local community to lace up their running shoes and make a difference.
Scheduled for Sunday, 2nd March, the run will take participants through the picturesque University of Surrey campus and Guildford’s iconic landmarks. With routes catering to all fitness levels – 10lm, 5km, and a 2.5km family-friendly-option – there’s something for everyone, whether you’re a seasoned runner chasing a personal best or a beginner looking to enjoy a fun day out.
Spaceways Storage is generously covering 100% of the event’s costs, ensuring that every penny raised goes directly to the Royal Surrey Charity. These funds will help enhance patient care at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, supporting its mission to deliver exceptional, compassionate care in a welcoming and safe environment.
Moira Martin, Spaceways Storage Charity Events Founder said: “I am delighted that once again Spaceways Storage are organising the annual University of Surrey Charity Run. The idea behind it has always been that a local business would work with the local University to raise funds for a local charity. This year we are raising funds for that most worthwhile of charities, our very own Royal Surrey Hospital. Local people, local businesses and local students running to raise money for the local hospital. What could be more inspiring. Let us hope that this year we raise more than ever before!”
Sandra Lowry, Community and Events Fundraising Manager at Royal Surrey Charity, said: “Royal Surrey Charity is delighted to have been chosen as the official charity for the University of Surrey Charity Run this year. Fantastic local events like these are not only great for bringing the community together, but also help local charities to raise vital funds. The money raised from this year’s Charity Run will support patients and staff at our hospitals, helping us to fund state-of-the-art equipment and technology, transform wards and waiting areas, invest in research, training and education and celebrate and care for our amazing NHS staff. We are so grateful to the University of Surrey for supporting the charity and giving us this wonderful opportunity to be part of this year’s charity run.”
Don’t miss the chance to join the fun, get active, and make a meaningful impact. Mark your calendars for 2nd March and be part of this inspiring event! Sign up today at: University of Surrey Charity Run
