However practically important, it’s never the sexiest part of a project to be the person who persuades someone else to put their hand in their pocket. Perhaps that is why Ellen Willmott has not – until now – been officially celebrated at RHS Wisley. Then again, there could be an even more prosaic reason: until…
Author: Sandra Lawrence
Sandra Lawrence is a London born and based journalist, author and historian
Miss Willmott gets a Pogo Stick
One of the few things I regret about those four crazy boiler-suit-and-head-torch days back in 2019 spent trying to save as many of Ellen Willmott’s papers as possible was the sheer speed of it all. There was no time to just stop and look around. The basement was full, the remit to save documents, yet…
A Girls’ Afternoon Out to the Photographer’s Studio
It’s somehow become the go-to photo of Ellen Willmott, taking over from the old bunch of ho-hum cliched stalwarts, and don’t get me wrong, I was delighted to find it in August 2021: What you can’t tell from looking at this image of Ellen Willmott in her prime, though, is its size. It’s tiny –…
A Christmas Rose (Engine…)
This is the best holiday video ever. I share it with you today with the feeble Christmas excuse that Ellen Willmott once owned such an engine. It’s well known that Ellen owned a Holzapffel lathe. She was not alone in this, it was something of a craze among the aristocracy – who were the only…
Whatever Happened to Johann Bernhard Mann?
SPOILER ALERT Okay, if you haven’t read Miss Willmott’s Ghosts yet, avert your eyes – this post is Not For You. Nothing To See Here. Move Along Please. For anyone else, however, who wondered what happened to the shy young German naval lieutenant who fell madly in love with Ellen Willmott then disappeared from her…
Ellen’s summer houses #2: Miss Willmott and Mr Napoleon
There is an intriguing legend that while on holiday in the Alps, a 19 year-old Ellen Willmott bought, on the spot, a Swiss shepherd’s hut from St Bernard Pass / Bourg St Pierre because someone told her Napoleon Bonaparte stayed in it one night during his famous Alp-crossing exercise. The story continues that she had…
Time Waits for No One…
…and especially me. I was unable to attend the second auction of items from Spetchley Park in February 2020, so I was forced to put commission bids on a number of items that, whether noted in the catalogue or not, were linked to Ellen Willmott. These weren’t the grand things, they were small – a…
Ellen Willmott and Edward Elgar
The most obvious reason why we remember Ellen Willmott as a horticulturist is because, however fragmented, there is at least some evidence of her horticulture. In her lifetime, however, Ellen was known equally – and in some circles more – for her musical abilities. Some obituaries actually describe her as ‘musician and gardener’ in that…
Schrodinger’s Caskets…
For a historian, there are times when it is important to dream. Feet-on-the-ground is all very well, and there are plenty of opportunities to be sensible, thorough and precise. I can do that when its needed. I never, but never, allow my fantasies to overrule actual evidence and if I’m speculating I will always say…
Dust to Dust
There should have been so much to enjoy today. I was celebrating – the paperback of Miss Willmott’s Ghosts, published exactly a year after the hardback came out. I had arranged to meet three dear friends who had helped me so much with the book – the support, practical help, expertise, wisdom and just bottom-line…
Paperback Publication Day!
Please allow a little self indulgence as it sinks in that not only was Miss Willmott’s Ghosts published in the first place – and to all intents and purposes has sold out (there are a few copies of the hardback left on Amazon, but apart from that they’re gone…) – but it’s made it to…
Through the Oval Window: Ellen’s Summer Houses #1
Today I’m starting the first in an occasional series on Ellen Willmott’s (many) summer houses. By far the majority of them were in her main garden at Warley Place, which boasted at least eight, but that’s not counting the gazebos her sister Rose had at Warley Lea and Ellen also had a couple of cabins…
She who Laughs Last
As Willmott admirers went, there were few more ardent than her mentor, Swiss alpinist Henry Correvon. Rarely does he seem to go into print without some form of raving about Warley’s 65-metre ravine, its rocks, its pools, its nooks, its plants – and its creator. Privately, however, he was rather more stern with his young…
Spud-She-Like
I was relieved not to have bought into the phone call I had this morning from the ‘Potato Foundation’ wanting to name a spud after me. Ironically, I would have completely fallen for the April Fool if ‘Desiree Edwards’ had told me she wanted to name a potato for Ellen Willmott. A well-known Willmott legend…
The Dark Side of the Wall
There are some parts of Warley that have always been a mystery. This is mainly because of the way they’ve been represented (or not) in maps, photographs and even The Kip, despite their being – in theory at least – right in the middle of the pleasure garden. That doesn’t mean that they will stay…
The Kip
It occurs to me that I keep referring to something a bit strange-sounding in these blogs and that it may be worth explaining what the bloomin’ heck I’m talking about. Today, therefore, I’m going to focus on one of the best tools Willmott obsessives have in their box: The Kip. It’s a nickname, short for…
Fireman Ellen Ann
On the night of 2-3rd September, 1907, Miss Willmott’s magnificent, antique-filled, wisteria-draped French villa burned. Ellen was not at home at the time . She missed the drama by mere hours, taking the overnighter down from Paris to join her sister and brother in law – who were in the building, fast asleep. No one…
When Ellen met Monty…
I have a confession to make: My name is Sandra and I am an M.R. James fan. So, okay, for most people this is going to be a frustrating, completely self-indulgent post but it’s probably my only opportunity to talk about Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936), one of my favourite writers, in the same literary breath…
A Pair of Field Glasses
We know the current whereabouts of very few objects that absolutely, without doubt, belonged to Ellen; even fewer objects that absolutely, without doubt, also belonged to her family. So today’s piece is very special. These binoculars are not in the first flush of youth – or at least their once-sturdy, red velvet-lined case isn’t. It’s…
Ellen Willmott and Mr Bean
I recently had the immense pleasure of talking with Professor Michael Fay, Head of the Conservation Genetics team at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and orchideer extraordinaire. Mike and his colleague Mark Chase were kind enough to look at some of Ellen Willmott’s photos of orchids and help identify what they were. It took a…
Miss Willmott's Ghosts 