Back in 2009 Geoff Stonebanks from Bishopstone, took the decision to open his garden to the public to raise money for charity. Little did he know then, that 14 years on, he would have raised over £170,000, garnered many accolades, both personally and from a gardening perspective. His garden, Driftwood, has received several national awards, featured on prime-time television, including BBC Gardeners’ World and Geoff himself has been acknowledged through invitations to Buckingham Palace on 3 occasions and only this year was named one of the 500 Coronation Champions by the King and Queen.

Geoff decided very early on that his garden was the perfect backdrop to display art for sale! He set out to source a range of local artists to display their work in his garden for the local Artwave Festival each year.

Back in 2013, Paul Cox was approached and readily agreed. That summer some of his amazing, large, sculptural pieces were put on display in the garden for the festival. Already there were clear indications of Paul’s love of blue birds. Whilst these large sculptural pieces may not have been as commercially viable as later works, they made a stunning impact in Geoff’s plot and drew much acclaim from visitors.

During this time Geoff became interested in Paul’s work for himself, because it always looked so at home in the garden. Starting small, he purchased several of Paul’s early offerings like the ceramic blue butterfly which still looks great in the garden 10 years on, surrounded by gorgeous succulents. This was soon followed by some of Paul’s early metal birds on stakes, purchased at a variety of local venues. All those pictured are over 10 years old now and still look eye catching.

Paul has displayed his ever changing and imaginative work at Driftwood, every year since 2013, with Geoff selling many thousands of pounds each Summer. The only issue for Geoff was, that each stunning piece for sale always looked so at home, once placed in his garden, he too wanted to own it!

Inevitably, this has led to Geoff curating his own personal collection of Paul’s work over the intervening years. The only problem he has now is that visitors to the garden each summer see his purchases and think they are for sale too.

Following on with the older, oxidised work, first produced by Paul, Geoff has collected quite a few items over the years, like the seed heads, oxidised angel, along with the poppy and daisy flowers, all of which stand the test of time being left out in the garden all year around to create pockets of interest.

It wasn’t long before Paul’s attention turned to butterflies and he produced a range of different items, metal and perspex, doubles, multiples and singles. Geoff too has a number in his collection, like the large orange perspex that adorns the garden throughout the year along with some mirrored doubles on metal spike.

About 6 years ago, Geoff begun to acquire some of Paul’s one off, “speciality” pieces that are really innovative and very special, more importantly, they look so at home in his inventive and quirky garden.

This began with the purchase of 2 unusual heads, one on a salver and the other in a cage. Both carefully displayed on garden stakes. Geoff said: “From the moment these 2 pieces were delivered for sale in the garden, both my partner and I fell in love with them and purchased them immediately. We do have visitors that feel they are not their cup of tea but heh, we love them.”

The blue bird theme carries through to this day with Paul’s work and Geoff has several pieces to prove the point. Several years ago, Paul created some larger blue birds, with long legs, set on garden stakes for Geoff to sell. He is now the proud owner of 2, which reside in the gravel garden at Driftwood, looking particularly grand, with the blue marine rope and the blue metal fence behind.

Over time Paul developed smaller birds that have now become totally synonymous with his current work, like the set of 2D really small bids or the slightly larger single stem 3D. All look so incredible sunk into the planting and adding a “pop” of colour.

Other real pops of colour can be created using Paul’s extensive range of single stem flowers, daisies, poppies and echinacea, to name but a few. Geoff said: “I was so thrilled to receive a gift for my 70th birthday this year, ordered online by my partner’s sister to be delivered, beautifully gift wrapped by Paul, a very pretty daisy, pictured.” Geoff has sold hundreds of these flower stems to his visitors over the years, even having to bend the stems in half, after purchase, so that American visitors can fit them in their suitcases to get them home.

In recent years, Paul has taken to producing some really innovative, fun and interesting pieces that are unique, sometimes to be repeated! These pieces are so different and are perfect for creating an eye-catching vista in your garden or using them as a cameo to draw the eye. Here again, Geoff has curated quite an intriguing collection.

Three recent favourites are those shown, all of which are such imaginative creations that stand alone in the garden or work together with their surroundings to create the perfect picture.

Geoff said; “I really fell in love with these pieces, seeing them on Paul’s web site as creative one-off sculptures. The only problem has been visitors want to buy them, so have had to ask Paul to create others for them.”

Another real favourite of Geoff’s is the colourful jester’s head on a stake with intricate collar. It always raises a comment from passing visitors.

The blue bird theme took on a real change a couple of years ago with some more, larger and intricate sculptures. Geoff fell in love with this larger piece and was able to persuade his mother to buy it for him for Christmas in 2021. You can see it looks amazing in the garden and he admits to bringing it inside to display with plants in his porch in the winter to gain maximum benefit of its enjoyment all year around.

A second piece in a similar vein, is this beautiful garden stake with a pendulum bird, resting above the leaves. It looked amazing this summer perched above the glorious succulents below.

If you would like to see Geoff’s curated collection of Paul’s work, and maybe buy some of Paul’s pieces on sale next summer, Driftwood in Seaford, will be open for pre-booked visitors only between 1st June and 31st July 2024. Full details are on Geoff's website at www.driftwoodbysea.co.uk