Gardening in Silk and Linocut — The Highgrove Celebrated Scarf
Over the past few years, gardens have become a deeply personal thread running through my work — not just as motifs, but as a source of solace, heritage, and imagination. Though I’ve never had a garden of my own, I’ve found a way to cultivate them through printmaking. I like to think of what I do as gardening in silk and lino block.
With this in mind, I am thrilled to introduce The Highgrove Celebrated Scarf — created in collaboration with Highgrove Gardens, available exclusively through the Highgrove Shop and launching this week at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025. This richly detailed new design captures the spirit and splendour of HM The King’s gardens at Highgrove. It is my most ambitious garden scarf to date, drawing on years of botanical fascination and my signature linocut process to create something both elegant and evocative.
At the centre of the design is the classical North-East front of Highgrove House, framed by roses and a scroll bearing the Highgrove name. From this central motif unfurls a continuous landscape — a tapestry of eight iconic Highgrove gardens:
– The Stumpery, bold and magical
– The Sundial Garden, balanced and formal
– The Cottage Garden, informal and inviting
– The Carpet Garden, patterned and exotic
– The Oak Pavilion, peaceful and contemplative
– The Thyme Walk, trimmed and fragrant
– The Meadow, wild and painterly
– The Kitchen Garden, bountiful and productive
Every element — from garden tools to the delphiniums and ferns — was created by hand in my Cambridge studio. Like gardening, linocut is a slow, tactile craft: meditative in process and joyful in result.
This scarf continues a wonderful collaboration with Highgrove. In 2023, I had the honour of designing the Highgrove Coronation Scarf to celebrate the accession of King Charles III. In 2024, my Meadow Scarf — inspired by Highgrove’s wildflower meadows — was launched during the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. With each design, I’ve tried to express not just the visual beauty of these gardens, but also the values they represent: sustainability, serenity, and craft.
Working with Highgrove feels like the natural next chapter in a story that began during lockdown. Isolated from green spaces, I immersed myself in the lives and gardens of three remarkable women: Bunny Mellon, Vita Sackville-West, and Rhoda, Lady Birley. My Garden Collection was born — and continues to grow — as a tribute to their style, their vision, and their passion for plants. I spent my days carving watering cans, dovecotes, rose arches, and potting sheds. It was a form of gardening I could do without soil — and it changed the course of my work.
So, to contribute to the story of Highgrove — a garden so close to The King’s heart, and shaped by his personal touch — is both a creative and emotional milestone. It also feels full circle: Bunny Mellon, one of my earliest inspirations, shared a friendship with The King and a deep appreciation for the contemplative power of gardens.
The Highgrove Celebrated Scarf is, in many ways, the culmination of years spent cultivating my own artistic garden — one that stretches across silk and lino, history and hope. I hope it brings joy to wear, and perhaps even a moment of stillness in a busy world — just as a real garden would.
Available to purchase through the Highgrove online shop. All proceeds help to support the work of The King’s Foundation.
P.S. If you love this design, you may also enjoy my Garden Collection — scarves inspired by legendary female gardeners of the 20th century.
