About Stephen Ben Cox

Brought up in rural England he took a 4-year honours degree at university,  then Post-Graduate Scholarship inEastern Europe for a year. Back in the UK he taught in secondary schools and further education colleges, then took his Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE: state teaching qualification) at University and then was the production manager for a small independent British film.

For several years he was an interior designer/ decorator/restorer. (Victorian & Georgian houses) in Devon, Hampshire, Berkshire, Shropshire, Oxfordshire, London. 

As a professional artist creating sculpture, installations, reliefs, paintings,  and watercolour miniatures he worked from a large rural studio for several years, and had many one-man exhibitions all over England, Wales and Scotland. He delivered several lectures about his art.

Over the years he has written extensively in the fields of history, wildlife, habitats, folk crafts,  folklore, customs, cultural sites, heritage, horticulture, climate change, prehistoric architecture, conservation, well-being, mythology. This includes: over 600 articles, 21 conservation videos & 6 books all on horticulture & conservation. Texts for another 32 more videos are written  His work is protected by two copyright societies.

In international education he devised and ran: distance learning courses; heritage lectures;  placements for students from across Europe; cultural tours; ancient sites visits; and many group heritage adventure expeditions to remote wild landscapes. He directed English as a Foreign Language summer centres for some years. He was asked to give lecture tours to the Netherlands and Belgium about his philosophy and wild landscapes.

He founded and ran the local Neighbourhood Watch schemes (2002-2021). He was a Police Custody Visitor for 10 years. He wrote the initial environmental policies for the local Neighbourhood Plan.

He is occassionally writing memoirs of 1950's rural life. A major book on life coaching/self-help: "The Keys of Life" is almost finished but suspended. Three books are due for publication: 'The Water Gardener', 'The Happy Gardener' and 'The Well-Being Gardener'.

Two others are also complete: 'The Healthy Gardener' and 'The Spiritual Gardener'.

He composes the text and narrates the audio for the Trust videos on its YouTube channel conjuction with various student editors from the UK and Germany .

For health reasons he retired in 2009 and in 2011 moved to Wiltshire. Then devoted himself full time to develop an unusual garden from a small field  and  founded a registered charity which he runs.