First photography award

Earlier this year Loseley Park and Surrey Life magazine launched a photographic competition. The idea being it to find the finest photographers who could capture the beauty and atmosphere of Loseley’s ancient walled garden and grounds.

The competition was open to all ages of amateur photographer with the categories including landscape, the walled garden, flowers, wildlife and people in nature.

Loseley Park is a historic manor house and acquired by the direct ancestors of the More-Molyneaux family at the beginning of the 16th century. Incredibly the 500 year story of the family and their home continues with visitors still finding it fascinating.

We were initially attracted to Loseley Park by its incredible gardens. The rose garden for example is planted with over one thousand Old English Rose Bushes and framed by long, low and precisely clipped box hedges.

The herb garden provides seasonal flavours and essential ingredients to the kitchen on a daily basis. It is an important part of daily life at Loseley Park and has been for hundreds of years.

The flower garden offers a combination of traditional herbaceous plants and mixed shrubs set off with annuals and bulbs to build a bold and fiery display. Think subtle reds and burnt oranges complimenting vibrant yellows and blues.

A contrast to the white garden which provides a tranquil oasis of white, cream and silver around a central water feature. The kitchen garden has adopted organic methods gardeners have used through the years, including companion planting, and also houses a collection of Garden Organic Heritage Seed Library plants.

We were invited by Loseley Park to attend the prize giving of the photography competition which took place this week. The house looked spectacular in the dark and we received the most wonderful welcome from the More-Molyneaux family.

There we were able to browse other entries in the photography competition whilst we took in what is a truly magnificent house. This was the first time we’d been inside and it was an incredible sight.

It was a special evening thanks to the More-Molyneaux’s hospitality.

What topped it off was winning the best flower category with a Foxglove photograph. A huge surprise but as the first photography competition I’ve entered, one I will most certainly relish.