MY CULTURAL LIFE RICHARD BARLEY
An arbiter of taste tells us what they are reading, listening to and more
As director of horticulture at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Australian-born Richard Barley has perhaps the grandest take on the ‘ head gardener’ title in Britain. Founded in 1759, Kew’s 121-hectare plot in southwest London houses the biggest and most diverse botanical collection in the world. The jewel in its crown, Temperate House, will reopen on 5 May after a five-year restoration, showcasing 10,000 rare, highly scented and medicinal plants. ‘It is an intoxicating blend of beauty and science,’ enthuses Barley ( kew.org).
The books that have most
influenced me are those classics by PG Wodehouse ( 2). The plots are all more or less the same, but his delicious descriptions of characters and situations mean that it doesn’t matter. There is an inherent optimism and delight in the quirks of people in his books. The films I repeatedly watch are ones with Fred Astaire ( 3) in them. I find his dancing mesmerising. It’s also hard to overlook the Paddington films, which were fabulously enjoyable. The story of an out- of-towner coming to London and finding their way has some resonance for me and my family, being from another part of the world – though not darkest Peru. My favourite song is anything by singersongwriter Van Morrison. His music has been ever-present throughout my life – from teenage years to semi-maturity (to use a horticultural term). Into the Mystic from the Moondance album is fantastic. The last exhibition I saw was ‘Charles I: King and Collector’ at the Royal Academy, which was stunning. But when visiting galleries in general, I tend to veer towards artwork from the mid-1800s to 1930. Perhaps, over time, I’ll narrow that window even further. My favourite gardens include the very artfully planted Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria ( 1) in London, where I worked for 30 years, and Great Dixter in East Sussex, for its bold use of colour and foliage. For sheer genius of perspective, mass and rhythm, there are few to compare with France’s Vaux-le-vicomte. If I won the lottery, the work of art I would like to own is John Singer Sargent’s Portrait of Madame X ( 4), which I was thrilled to see at The Met galleries in New York. I would also be happy to pick up a landscape by Arthur Streeton, an Australian Impressionist painter who was a master in the use of light. My favourite place in the world to travel to is Australia. My wife and I spend time catching up with friends and family in Melbourne and Sydney, then get out of town on a road trip. This summer at Kew, I am most looking forward to the Great Broad
Walk Borders ( 5), which will be coming into flower for the late spring/early summer season. At 320 metres, they are the longest double herbaceous borders in the world, and offer a stunning series of changing displays up until autumn.