Strange apparitions peer through the brambles: moss-covered walls, broken hothouses, a crumbling conservatory. Deep in the rubble, the remains of a wine cellar disappear into dense undergrowth. For a brief, intoxicating moment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the ruined house at Warley Place, just outside the M25 in Essex, played host to one of the most important gardens in the world. Then it descended into darkness taking its creator with it. 

An extraordinary, complex genius, Ellen Willmott was adored by her friends and reviled by her enemies. After death her reputation deteriorated faster than her shattered garden—before a surprise discovery in the basement of a Worcestershire country house began to reveal some of Miss Willmott’s Ghosts. Join author Sandra Lawrence, who has written a book on Wilmott, for a dive into the heated world of Victorian horticulturalism.

As usual we will be attempting to live-stream the talk (subject to the whims of the venue’s wifi): the link to watch is https://youtube.com/live/O6x1_9bAHo8.