Maggie Smith has had some great lines in Downton Abbey as the inimitable Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham and she didn't disappoint us this past week in episode 3 of the third season. The gardener in me loved a scene in this episode when the Dowager Countess sat down with her granddaughter, Lady Edith who, shortly after being jilted at the altar, was not at all sure what to do with the rest of her life:
Lady Edith: There's nothing to do at the house, except when we entertain.
Dowager Countess: There must be something you can put your mind to.
Lady Edith: Like, what? Gardening?
Dowager Countess: Well, you can't be as desperate as that.
Dowager Countess: There must be something you can put your mind to.
Lady Edith: Like, what? Gardening?
Dowager Countess: Well, you can't be as desperate as that.
Maybe this explains why, as a gardener, I suffer from bouts of desperation. Nevertheless, even though the Dowager Countess couldn't begin to imagine her granddaughter's hands in the dirt, I'm sure that among those in service at Downton, she must have held the gardeners in fairly high regard.
The gardens at Highclere Castle, the set for Downton Abbey. Photo courtesy, Highclere Castle |
Although the gardens have not figured prominently in the plot of the popular television series, in its day an Edwardian country house the size of Downton Abbey would have had a large team of gardeners caring for the gardens and grounds, as well as supplying the kitchen with food for every meal and the house with arrangement after arrangement of cut flowers every morning. This was no small feat in manor houses where estates could consist of thousands of acres and where gardens could include huge ornamental grounds, potagers that fed the entire estate, aviaries, grottoes, orangeries and enormous glasshouses. The photo below, taken around 1900 at Waddeson Manor, one of the Rothschild houses concentrated in the Vale of Aylesbury in the UK, shows a gardening staff of twenty-two.
Photo courtesy Waddeson Manor and National Trust, UK |
Gardener with Pipe by Frederick William Elwell, 1898 |
Preparing The Flower Beds by Pieter Bruegel The Younger, 1625 |
For a wonderful look at the role of the head gardener in the English country house prior to the first world war, see Toby Musgrave's book, The Head Gardeners: Forgotten Heroes of Horticulture.
Great post Joe. I've often wondered how many gardeners it took to maintain these estates. I wish I could just borrow one of them a few times a week, or more! Looks like an interesting book too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Maude! Yes, I'm with you...I'd be satisfied with a little help from the lowest apprentice on the ladder for just a few hours a week. Maybe then I wouldn't have to spend the entire gardening season feeling so desperate, as the Dowager Countess put it. ~ Joe
ReplyDeleteAh..the life of a gardener...it's grand, to be sure. Joe..
ReplyDeleteI still think my all time favouite garden was in the movie' A Secret Garden'
http://youtu.be/VrMahhudZvo
That was the stuff dreams are made of..a gardner's life is a magical one. :)
You know, Jeanne...I just looked at that trailer and I'm not sure I ever saw that version. Well, it's on my movie list now! Thanks! ~Joe
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