Hill Close Gardens 

Hill Close Gardens captures the timelessness of one of the last groups of detached Victorian pleasure gardens in the UK. The gardens date back to 1845 and were tended by tradesmen. They fell into disrepair and were saved from development by local residents. The plots have been fully restored by volunteers toaddress the planting of their original owners. 

The gardens were invested in, lost and then recreated. Each generation of gardener brought with them a layer of history. Dunnett has created a multi-layered process to engage the gardens past. She converted her photographs into contact negatives to make cyanotypes. Then she toned them with pomegranate referencing 19th century painting and photography.

Dunnett was drawn to the narrativesof the tradesmen and photographed their landscaped plots and summerhouses. Whispers, tales from different times follow you around the garden. A sense of peace pays tribute to the years spent cultivating the land. Nature flourishes amongst the hedged plots and Dunnett recalled lost gardens from her childhood. She has explored time’s passage through the gardens, and attempted to thread these different layers together.