This February 8 Gardens Trust online lecture will focus on The Gardens of Ellen Ann Willmott through her own lens with Sandra Lawrence. £5. Register through Eventbrite HERE Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.
Horticulturalist, musician, botanist and polymath, Miss Ellen Willmott created three world-class gardens in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. None remain in the state in which she would have known them and two – at Warley Place in Essex and Tresserve in the French Alps – were destroyed after her death in 1934. Thanks to another of Willmott’s obsessions, however, we can at least glimpse into her world. We are only just beginning to understand the full extent of Ellen Willmott’s photography – which was both wide-ranging and high quality – and her published material represents a very small part of her output. This talk will explore Willmott’s gardens through her own images, many of which are newly discovered, discussing her techniques and comparing what she captured with what is left today.
Sandra Lawrence has written for all the broadsheets, many magazines and websites. Her fifteen books, for adults and children, include The Witch’s Garden (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew /Welbeck) and Anthology of Amazing Women (20-Watt). The Magic of Mushrooms will be published by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/ Welbeck in autumn 2022.
Sandra first became interested in Ellen Willmott when she attended an open day at Warley Place as a child circa forty years ago and interest eventually turned to obsession. Her new biography, Miss Willmott’s Ghosts, will be published by Manilla in May 2022.
