Created and re-created against the backdrop of cycle of war and peace with its accompanying social and economic impacts, the twentieth century garden pivots between tradition and modernism, informality and structure. The century sees a shift in both style and materials as concrete takes its place at the heart of new towns and spaces, whilst the country house garden struggles to survive and flourish again in a new order. Garden design increasingly reflects the needs of a wider range of society, whilst literary and artistic movements locate gardens at the very heart of the struggle for meaning in a world of change and aspiration. The Gardens Trust series reflects the continuity and change in garden design and understanding through the twentieth century highlighting specific gardens and designers and setting them within more contextual discussions. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week. Tickets £30 or £5 each. To purchase a ticket for the complete series through Eventbrite, visit HERE. The Gardens Trust has complete details on its website.
The March 9 talk with Twigs Way highlights one of my personal favorite garden authors, Beverley Nichols (1898-1983): Leading us Down the Garden Path. Beverley Nichols was an author, socialite, and garden creator, now perhaps best remembered for his books which were not quite about gardening and yet not-quite not about gardening. Inspired by his various houses and gardens, the events he shared and the people he portrayed (sometimes quite mercilessly) were also not quite true and yet not-quite not true. Although somewhat misogynistic in style, and resolutely off-hand on the subject of gardening instruction, his 1932 best-selling work Down the Garden Path, illustrated by Rex Whistler, has been in print almost continuously since it first appeared. It was followed by two other works about his time at ‘Allways’ (his pseudonym for Glatton, Cambridgeshire), before a move to Hampstead Heath and then on to a Georgian manor in Ashtead, Surrey resulted in more not-quite gardening books. Nichols gave rise to a particular genre of gardening memoir in the mid-twentieth century, not to mention several satires on the style including Garden Rubbish (1936). This talk will explore the life, loves and garden landscapes of Beverley Nichols, drawing on published and unpublished material. The speaker lives in the village adjacent to Nichols’ beloved ‘Allways’.
Twigs Way is a garden historian, writer and researcher. Twigs is fascinated by the past and intrigued by the role of flowers, gardens and landscape in art and culture of all kinds. Her talks and books reflect that endless curiosity with themes of symbolism and meaning, class and gender, art and literature . . and her desire to follow unknown paths towards the unexpected. From gnomes in Neasden to hollyhocks from the Holy Land every plant has a tale to tell, every garden a past. Twigs is an accredited Arts Society lecturer and her history of the Chrysanthemum in art and culture was published by Reaktion in 2020. She is currently not-quite working on the equally golden daffodil.
