Monthly Archives: May 2026

As regular readers will know I’ve got a soft spot for garden gnomes and have often lectured about them and even written  about their introduction to Britain in the mid-19thc by the rather eccentric Sir Charles Isham of Lamport Hall. … Continue reading →

Bankside is the riverside area on  the south side of the Thames opposite the City of London proper, and in early modern times  it was  outside the control of the City authorities. Renowned for its market gardens and orchards it … Continue reading →

Ive always been surprised at how many great horticultural businesses just disappear  almost without trace, I’ve already looked at the stories of  two which did – Carters and Ryder Seeds – so a few moths ago thought I’d research Cuthbert’s … Continue reading →

If you’d like to see  a house with “a perfect, extremely reticent design… done in an impeccable taste” and  with a garden to match can I recommend Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire. That opening quote came from Pevsner and when I … Continue reading →

Papendieck and Hullmandel might sound like an obscure German plant nursery  or perhaps a Victorian music hall double act but they were actually the people behind a collection of colour images of the royal gardens at Kew  in the final … Continue reading →