Cumbria is first venue outside London for international Garden Photography Exhibition

The International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY), the world’s premier competition and exhibition of garden, plant and botanical photographs, opened at the gallery@rheged, Penrith on Saturday 21 April 2012. It comes to Rheged immediately after finishing its hugely successful opening show at Kew Gardens, London. It will be on display at gallery@rheged from 10.30am-4.30pm daily until Sunday 1 July.

John Stokes, Rheged’s Arts Officer commented “We are delighted to be the first venue outside London to host this Exhibition. Its arrival ties in with the national celebration of gardening this week. There is also a great opportunity to combine a visit to the exhibition with a walk around nearby gardens such as Hutton in the Forrest and Dalemain which look superb at this time of year.”

Each year thousands of professional and amateur photographers of all ages submit their best shots to the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition. Prize winners are judged across 9 categories including Wildlife Havens, Bountiful Earth and Young Garden Photographer of the year.

The exhibition features more than 80 images. The competition is organised in association with Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and is now in its sixth year. Rheged will be hosting several associated events alongside the exhibition including ‘Green Fingers Gardening Workshops for children’ with Sally Beamish, head gardener of Brantwood Estate on Monday 4 June (£4) and ‘Bushcraft Workshops’ with Ullswater based Reach Beyond Adventure on Wednesday 6 June (£4.50).

There will also be an exclusive lecture at Rheged on garden photography with slides and examples of award winning photographs from Philip Smith, managing director of IGPOTY and himself an experienced photographer, published in high profile gardening magazines. Organised in association with the Royal Photographic Society, Better Plant and Garden Photography is on Sunday 24 June from 2:00pm-4:00pm, tickets cost £20 (£15 for members of the Royal Photographic Society).Tickets are available by ringing 01225 325733

As well as IGPOTY Rheged will also be showing Into the Wild, Student exhibition, a specially selected exhibition of photographs from students studying Adventure and Media BA Hons and Wildlife and Media BA Hons at University of Cumbria. This separate exhibition will be on display in Rheged’s Retail Street, and is a showcase of some of the best of this year’s students featuring photographs grouped into three themes: Adventure, Wildlife and Landscape. International Garden Photographer of the Year will be on display from Saturday 21 April to Sunday 1 July 2012 from 10.30am-4.30pm daily. Admission is £2.00 and children under 16 go free. Into The Wild, Student Exhibition will be on display from Tuesday 1 May to Friday 29 June from 10.00am to 5.30pm. Admission is free.