Ben Pentreath: A Year at the Parsonage

Some houses ask to be lived in a particular way. The Old Parsonage, in a small village in West Dorset, asked Ben Pentreath and his husband Charlie McCormick for ten years of flowers, vegetables, long tables and cold winters, and gave back a garden, a home, and eventually a book.

Ben joins us to talk through A Year at the Parsonage, his and Charlie’s love letter to the house: the initial vision for the garden, the daily rituals that grew up around it, and the slow accumulation of a life, spring’s renewal, summer’s abundance, winter’s reflection, before their final season there, as they prepare to begin again on the remote island of Rousay, Orkney.

Part memoir, part garden book, part portrait of a marriage lived through a house, this is a talk for anyone who has ever fallen for a place and let it shape them. Expect photographs, anecdotes, and Ben’s characteristic wit on the pleasures and absurdities of English domestic life.

This is Ben’s only public signing in the UK, and the only opportunity to get a personalised copy of A Year at the Parsonage. Copies will be available to buy on the night.

Please note that our talks now begin at 6:30pm, rather than 7pm, giving you more time to enjoy dinner at our award-winning Garden Museum Cafe. Table reservations are available here. Your talk ticket also includes entry to the Garden Museum’s temporary exhibitions from 6pm on the evening of the talk.