A Year in the Garden with Matthew Rice

Twenty Years of Digging at Ham Court

Before he was known for gardens, Matthew Rice was known for pots. He's spent decades as the design mind behind Emma Bridgewater's spongeware and sketchbook style, and he wrote Rice's Architectural Primer, a reference still used by people trying to date a building by its windows. A Year in the Garden turns that same close, illustrator's eye on his own ground, the walled garden at Ham Court, the historic gatehouse near Oxford where he and Bridgewater have worked for years.

The book runs month by month through planting, harvesting and the things that go wrong along the way, with recipes tied to whatever's ready to pick. At Shipston Bookfest he'll talk through a year at Ham Court and the habits, some hard-won, that keep a garden like that going.

Anyone who's ever squinted at Bridgewater pottery and wondered who draws those hens and vegetable patches will recognise the hand behind this one.

Saturday 26 September 2026 · Shipston Methodist Church, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire CV36 · Starts 11am