ART AND ORNAMENT

 

Nina Ziegler's tips on choosing and placing garden ornaments
• Just because you've got a small garden, don't go for a small ornament. One single bold piece will give you a focal point.
• Statues - especially those that are looking downwards - should always be raised up so that you can see the face. Getting the right height can be tricky, but avoid raising them above the surrounding fence or wall.
• Don't be afraid to put contrasting materials together. Lead for example, looks really good I against red brick - as does white marble. Stone on stone will just disappear.
• Buy new pieces in winter and then stand them outside and forget about them. By next summer they will have weathered naturally. There's
no need for cow dung and yoghurt!
• A large blank lawn can be daunting, but a good piece of stone or bronze will break it up. If it can be seen from the house, avoid anything solid. Choose a gazebo or wire arch, or even a modern sculpture with a hole in the centre, that will give a glimpse of the garden beyond.

A huge stone boar guards the entrance to a pretty painted shop front in the village of Newdigate in Surrey - a fairly obvious clue to passers by that Ziegler's is no ordinary village shop.
The owner, Nina Ziegler, describes her collection of garden ornaments as `somewhere between Sotheby's and the garden centre'.  She specialises in replicas of well known pieces - the boar is a copy of the Uffizi boar from Florence - individually made by contemporary craftsmen and women. `My criterion is that it is an object that I like'. The benefit for customers is that they can buy well made ornaments for a fraction of the cost of the originals.
Prices range from £8 for a small wall-hung gargoyle to £8,000 for a twelve foot high carved stone gazebo, and there are many urns, statues and seats that cost a few hundred pounds but look as if they are worth a lot more. 'Not everyone wants - or can afford - originals,' says Nina, `and, of course, they are very scarce. On the other hand, gardeners don't always want the same mass produced statues you find in garden centres.'
Nina's choice of materials - Italian Vicenza stone, marble, lead, York stone and bronze - means that the pieces age quickly. 'It's very difficult even for experts to tell whether lead, once it is weathered, is three or three hundred years old.' Her quest for good looking pieces takes her worldwide. She uses stonemasons in Cornwall, Yorkshire and Italy, and metalworkers in Thailand, to achieve the look she wants. Many pieces are exclusive to Ziegler's and you certainly won't find them in many other gardens. She also collects a few antiques, which, combined with the new pieces, make for an eclectic mix of old and new that is very appealing.
Although guided by her own instincts, she has learned that no two people's tastes are the same. 'Something that looks awful hidden in the undergrowth will look magnificent on a plinth - and vice versa. It's a bit like a Versace dress. On some people it looks great, on others it looks awful, but it's still a Versace dress!'
Taste in garden ornament never stands still and Nina is always looking for new ideas. Her new range includes small stone fountains, wrought iron arches and seats which are affordable and decorative - perfect for those of us whose plans are more ambitious than time or our pockets

TOP FROM LEFT One of four copies of medieval ecclesiastical heads; 1950s Vincenza stone figure; a modern copy of a tribal piece; an original French antique marble fountain. ABOVE Nina sources items from all over the world. Some are genuine antiques, others are made by contemporary craftsmen - but old and new sit happily side by side.