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…
Tag: Ellen Willmott
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…
Works at Warley
During the pandemic, just like humanity, Warley suffered. Over lockdown passionate volunteers were barred from carrying out pretty much any maintenance work – though quite how it is impossible to social distance when there’s about 12 of you in 30-odd acres of woodland still beats me. The hurt was palpable among the volunteers, seeing their…
Secret Signs
Warley Place is always slightly mysterious. It reveals its deepest secrets only to those who really – but really – look. We have no idea whether Ellen was aware, for example, that some of the stone her builders used in various parts of the garden is not quite what it first appears to be… The…
The Secret Gate
Everyone who visits Warley Place will know the tiny building at the south entrance, officially “South Lodge”, more affectionally known as Jacob Maurer’s cottage. I’ll talk about that one another day, as I also will about the lesser-known but still-standing North Lodge. Each is worth its own separate post, but today I want to look…
Villa Boccanegra
Ventimiglia, Italy. Confession: Writing Miss Willmott’s Ghosts during covid meant that everything I knew about Villa Boccanegra at the time came from many, many photos, and long zoom talks with the garden’s keeper Ursula Piacenza and her friend and neighbour Carolyn Hanbury. On Monday I finally got to visit Ellen’s only extant garden and was…
Thank God for Tea
Over the past few days I’ve been reminded of Ellen Willmott’s relationship with the Royal family, and especially Queen Alexandra. Of course I failed to photograph Ellen’s personal invitation to King Edward VII’s funeral, but despite her famous no-show at the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour shindig a decade earlier, there is no way on…
An intimate souvenir
I often marvel at the strange range of objects that have, against the odds, managed to survive down the years since Ellen Willmott’s death, when so many ‘important’ pieces have been lost. Even the humblest survivors can speak, however, and often reveal some intriguing things. One of the oddest possessions that has actually lasted may…
A Butterfly Flaps its Wings: Ellen Willmott and the Japanese Ambassador…
I’ve always been intrigued by a fleeting mention in Ellen Willmott’s previous biography: an invitation to lay out a garden for the Emperor of Japan. She turned it down, we’re told, because she had ‘too much to do in Europe’. Author Audrey le Lièvre admits there is no date and no evidence for the story…
Miss Willmott's Ghosts 