From broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, to the author of My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell, you’ll have the chance to get up close and personal with the faces of those who’ve shaped the world we live in and discover their green legacy.
Other champions featured in the exhibition include Gardeners’ World presenter Roy Lancaster, who travelled the world on plant-finding expeditions, and environmentalist and champion of organic farming and gardening, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
An oil painting of one of the founders of the National Trust, Octavia Hill, will also be on display along with a portrait of children’s writer, artist and conservationist Beatrix Potter. Other recognisable faces include: Chris Packham, Dame Vivienne Westwood and The Clash front man, Joe Strummer.
To complement the exhibition, we will also be highlighting landscape paintings from Second Viscount Bearstead’s extensive collection in the ‘picture in focus’ display in the sitting room. This display, researched by our excellent volunteers, presents a selection of landscape paintings by European artists from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century. It is the first time that these paintings have been brought together and we hope that a fresh perspective might stimulate new appreciation of their style, and the images and ideas they present of the natural world over time.