The Story Behind The Explorer's Garden

March 17, 2026

For me, Cornwall has always been as much about the gardens as the sea. Hydrangeas and camellias are everywhere here, spilling over garden walls and lining the paths I walk along by the river near my cottage. I’ve grown up with them all my life and they’ve come to feel like home.

There’s something quietly romantic about Cornish gardens too, perhaps from the plant hunters who brought so many extraordinary flowers here, and maybe a little from years of reading Daphne du Maurier and imagining myself in her books! This collection really grew from that. A love of the gardens and the flowers that seem to shape the Cornish landscape all year round. Flowers that I grow, that I pick and fill my house with, that I love to draw and paint, they just give me a sense of rhythm as I know what to expect each season.

Rebecca X

Rebecca {me!], holding a bunch of primroses in 1969

My garden is my happy place - somewhere I always intend to spend more time in, and somewhere that never fails to restore a sense of calm.

Although I didn’t grow up in Cornwall, I’ve always felt a deep connection to its landscape and rugged beauty. The coastline, the light, the wild gardens - there’s something about the county that feels both grounding and inspiring.

Gardening has always been part of my life. My dad was a passionate gardener, and I can’t remember a time when flowers weren’t around us. They feel very much part of my DNA. Our family holidays were often spent in Cornwall, and I have the fondest memories of those trips - sunny days that seemed endless, spent either on the beach or wandering through gardens filled with colour and scent.

My dad loved plants with real enthusiasm. Much to my teenage embarrassment, he would often try to sneak a cutting or collect seeds from something that caught his eye in a garden we visited. Many of the hydrangeas in our garden today actually came from those little escapades.

For me, Cornish gardens will always be about those memories - holidays, family time, and beautiful blooms that instantly take me back. Every hydrangea flower feels like a quiet reminder of my dad and the joy he found in growing things.

Allison X

Allison holding a bunch of wild flowers

The Explorer's Garden at Pembroke Lodge, Newlyn

Allison and I have wanted to create a floral collection for years, not an obvious seaside one, but something rooted in the flowers we instinctively connect with Cornwall, the blooms that feel part of its identity. Over time we found ourselves drawn to the stories of the plant hunters and the way Cornwall became home to so many of their discoveries. Apart from the gorse, which was always here, camellias, hydrangeas and agapanthus settled into the landscape and now feel inseparable from it.

Agapanthus and hydrangeas in particular are everywhere here. You see them spilling over garden walls, lining driveways, softening granite cottages and framing coastal paths, often in the most extraordinary shades of blue. Those blues have become part of Cornwall’s visual language and quietly influenced this collection from the very beginning.

Whenever I see a camellia or a row of agapanthus catching the light, I think of home.

Looking out onto the St Mawes ferry from Allison's garden

Although this is not a coastal collection in the obvious sense, it is deeply connected to place. We chose to colour every flower in shades of blue. Blue has always been at the heart of our brand, but it also carries that quiet coastal influence without being literal. The result is a collection that would sit just as comfortably in a cottage overlooking the sea as it would in an old vicarage in the middle of England.

Our Explorer's Garden cushions at Pembroke Lodge

The collection is rooted in our long creative partnership with Heidi Ball, an illustrator we have worked with since 2011. That continuity matters to us. Our first sketching trip together was to Carwinion House in Mawnan Smith, set within 12 acres of sub tropical gardens filled with tree ferns, camellias, rhododendrons and a beautiful old dovecote.

Heidi's original sketches

Heidi sketches each plant individually, often working directly from real specimens. It is careful, collaborative work and never rushed. Sometimes she will draw the same plant several times before it feels right, a daffodil that is not too neat, a hydrangea head that feels full but not stiff, gorse that looks alive rather than decorative. Each drawing begins as its own study and only later do we start bringing them together. It’s a truly collaborative process, with lots of discussion until the drawings feel just right.

Heidi's sketches for the Explorer's Garden

Once we have the individual illustrations, the real design work begins. We compose the drawings, adjusting scale and spacing until the design feels balanced. We ask where the eye travels and whether there is enough breathing space. Some combinations work immediately, others take time. It is not just about beauty; it is about flow and rhythm.

Gorse & Fern design for the Explorer's Garden

Colour comes last. We always knew we wanted shades of blue, so once we found the exact tone we wanted, we built the palette around it. To stop the blue feeling flat, we made it sing with small pops of colour in the butterflies and insects, and the gorse brings its own unmistakable yellow. Those subtle contrasts lift the design and give it energy without losing the calm, cohesive feel of the collection.

When the artwork is finalised, we move into sampling. Fabrics are tested and scale is reviewed again. Sometimes a design that looks perfect on screen needs to be enlarged slightly to work properly on a lampshade or cushion. It is a slower process than people imagine.

We have five designs in the Explorer’s Garden collection, each rooted in flowers we strongly associate with Cornwall.
Cornwall, and particularly the Isles of Scilly, became known for growing some of the earliest daffodils in the country. From the late nineteenth century, millions of stems were cut each spring and sent overnight to London, shaping the islands’ economy long before tourism. Even now, seeing those first bunches appear in the fields and then in our local greengrocers and supermarkets feels important. It is a quiet lift after winter and a reminder that lighter days are on their way.

Daffodil, Agapanthus & Camellia cushions

The hydrangea is woven into everyday Cornish life. Large, generous heads of bloom soften stone walls and frame windows throughout the county, their colour shifting with the soil. In gardens like Trebah, where they surround the lake and spill down towards the Helford, they create moments that feel almost painterly. In this design, we wanted to capture that fullness and movement rather than something too neat or formal.

Our Hydrangea lampshade

Gorse is wilder, growing across cliffs and hedgerows, bright and unapologetic, with that faint coconut scent in the sun. We paired it with garden ferns, those deep green architectural shapes found in shaded Cornish gardens, adding structure and grounding to the design.

Gorse & Fern Cushion

The camellia is simply a beautiful flower, and we couldn’t have created this collection without including it. It feels so rooted in Cornwall, appearing just when the garden begins to wake up, and it deserved its place among these designs.

Our Camellia cushion

I love agapanthus - they are so Cornish. You see them spilling over garden walls in Falmouth, lining coastal paths, standing proudly in big terracotta pots. They grow like weeds here, clumping up happily with very little fuss, as if they were always meant to be part of the landscape. That electric blue against granite or a whitewashed cottage is just beautiful. Reliable, generous and quietly dramatic, they capture that salt-kissed elegance Cornwall does so well.

The Agapanthus cushion at Pembroke Lodge

When we see the fabric come back from production, that is when it feels real. What began as individual sketches becomes something tangible.

Once printed, the fabric goes to our local maker and her small team, who carefully turn it into cushions. Each one is backed and piped in velvet, giving it weight and definition.

Alongside the cushions, Allison and I have created lampshades in each design and print the artwork onto archival paper in our Penryn studio. The lampshades are made by us in our Penryn workroom, constructed to order with the same care as the rest of the collection. Because all five designs share a considered palette, you can mix and match freely, layering cushions, shades and prints so the room begins to feel like a Cornish garden seen through an explorer’s eye.

Ruth making an Hydrangea Lampshade in our Penryn Studio

No garden inspired collection would feel complete without scent. Our Bleujen candle, named after the Cornish word for flower, brings the collection together in fragrance. At its heart is tuberose, rich and creamy, balanced with fresh green notes and a subtle warmth underneath. It is floral but not overpowering, with a clean, rounded finish.