Warley Place. A Lost Garden.

In my last post I wrote about the great Edwardian nurseryman , Ellen Willmott and advocate an interesting biography about her . Rereading this biography made me curious to see what remains of her garden today . So last week we went to Warley Place in search of her lost garden .

Here Ellen would baby-sit and drink her coffee berry and pen her letters as she enjoyed the cockcrow sun and the endearing purview over her spotless lawn to the Cardinal ’s Walk beyond . Now the lawn is a slew of turkey oaks and shrub and it is to be turned into a woodland .

position from the conservatory

View from the conservatory

The name Cardinal ’s Walk is probably a reference point to the fact that there was an Abbey here until the dissolution of the monasteries . It was corrupt by the diarist John Evelyn in 1649 and it is said that he had the rattling chestnut trees planted which are still such a feature of the topographic point . I inquire if it was Ellen ’s mind to set them off in a lovely lawn of moss .

South Lodge .

The headway nurseryman was housed in the other great lodge and she set about building up her army of gardeners . As well as the alpine nurseryman , she had a herbaceous ‘ foreman ’ , 2 gardener for vegetables and fruit , a gardener for roses , one for chrysanthemums and so on . She even had a water engineer to look after the watering system . The remains of her hot menage show a complicated lay - out .

View from the conservatory

The boating pond fascinates me , it was apparently immense and build up on the hillside , how on earth was that done ? She had a sauceboat house and next to it was a shepherd ’s shanty that she bring back from Switzerland and rebuilt here . She was a great admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte and he was said to have expend a Nox in the hut . So she had to have it .

Part of big boating lake .

Given that Ellen develop 100,000 species and cultivar of plants , it is strange that there are so few plants left . When I was there , aside from the daffodils I saw a couple ofCorydalis , one clump ofPulmonariaand this littleScilla pratensiswas seeding around everywhere . There are thousands of snowdrops ; they have seeded all over the garden . It would be interesting to see how many novel wood anemone are grow here . Most of them were over but one late one get my eye .

54 Responses toWarley Place. A Lost Garden.

I hypothesize it ’s potential that many of her plants were transfer by nurseryman or people sell them . Interesting post , enchanting to see where she live

What a wonderful tripper to this garden still flower in part … especially stunning are the pitcher’s mound of daffodils….her bequest .

Wow , the Narcissus are adorable ! I ’m imagining Ellen sitting there drinking her coffee and contemplating the mean solar day ’s activity . It ’s sad that so many of the flora are gone .

It ’s almost unfathomable to me that one person could create such a garden in a individual lifetime – but I say having a legion of gardeners helped .

Such an interesting post about the garden . The daffodils are wonderful , I ’m so glad that it has been twist into a nature reserve and that people are still able-bodied to visit .

Oh a fascinating glimpse into Warley Place Chloris . It does indeed unhappily seem a very much lost garden now 😦 The wild Narcissus pseudonarcissus are splendid and I can understand why the pallid lemon and white one caught your eye . I ’m trying to get my head round a family with nine children living in that tiny hostelry !