S2 Ep 1 Penn’s Viburnum
Recording with Penn Allen at White Craggs
This week, as I was travelling on the underground, heading to the Inner Temple for my volunteering day in the garden - I had a thought! Stepping onto the very deep escalator at Holborn Station, wrapped in many layers because it was so cold, I thought - ‘this time last January I was grappling with how to launch a podcast in April and now a year later I have launched that podcast, there are 20 episodes and a new season starts at the end of the week.’ It’s funny how sometimes we are so busy doing the thing that we don’t notice these kinds of moments.
Today I hope you will be transported by the power of audio to Cumbria and specifically to Windermere. I had a truely joyful couple of days with Penn and her sister Pink, recording in White Craggs and Holehird gardens and we even fitted in a visit to Levens Hall.
I do hope that you will take a look at the episode page where you can see how ‘lost’ this garden is but firstly here is the background to this episode.
Penn Allen first contacted me back in the Summer of 2023. She wrote: “please excuse my making contact out of the blue. I am an avid follower of your podcast and am wondering whether you may be interested in featuring my newly published book, The Lost Garden of Loughrigg?
In one of my earliest memories, on a bright frosty day, I am helping my mother to pick flowers from the garden. ‘What is that lovely smell?’ I ask, as we pause beside a huge shrub in full flower. “That,’ replied my mother, ‘is a Viburnum fragrans.’ For most of my life, I have carried with me an understanding that this exceptional plant had some unique, personal connection with my family that I did not fully understand.
Since I first put pen to paper, I have felt with all my heart that the story is too important to be lost and that though the house and garden no longer exist as they did then and the people have long since departed, the mark they made upon the landscape should not be forgotten.”
It was exciting to hear from a listener and the story of the Viburnum fragrans sounded intriguing so Penn sent me a pdf of the book. I quickly became absorbed in the people and the plants and the story of love and loss and of friendship that stretched across time and continents. We met on zoom and though Penn lives in France and I live in London we quickly discovered that we both wanted to record this episode in the Lake District where the story takes place. So plans were made and in October, Penn and her sister and I all met in Windermere. It was a magical couple of days as we recorded in the early morning at White Craggs and then went to Holehird Gardens - there will be more from there in the Viburnum Offshoot episode in a couple of weeks time.
Key People
Alice Hough nee Redmayne - Penn’s Great Grandmother - A keen gardener, born at Brathay Hall. It is her diaries on which Penn’s account of the story are based.
Harry Hough - Alice’s husband, a surgeon and keen gardener.
3 daughters - Maud, Dorothy and Marjorie - Penn’s Grandmother
Will Purdom - the son of William Purdom - gardener at Brathay Hall. Will trains at Kew and then goes on 2 expeditions to China.
Key Dates
1905 Alice and Harry move into White Craggs just outside Ambleside, overlooking Windermere. They had commissioned Arts and Craft architect Dan Gibson to design it.
1909 Tragedy hits the family
1912 Will returns from his first solo expedition to China and begins to help Harry to build a garden on the Rock. Harry writes in the diary: “filthy day building steps with Will in the garden.”
1913. Harry becomes a sponsor of Will’s second trip to China having introduced him to Reginald Farrer.
1914 Will Purdom and Reginald Farrer’s expedition to China
1921 Will dies in China
1929 Harry writes a book: ‘A Westmorland Garden’ towards the end of the book he writes: “and now we must take our leave although we may never to our knowledge have met each other in the flesh I feel sure, that in the spirit as garden lovers we shall have wandered together through this little paradise with mutual pleasure.”
You can see pictures of Tom’s World Garden and read the advice on how to grown Viburnum fragrans on the episode page here. There will be an Offshoot episode on the 26th January where we will find out more about the expedition to China. I am now off to start editing the second episode for this new season which is going to take us to New Zealand - well almost.
As always you can support the podcast by buying me a coffee, or leaving a review on Apple podcasts or your own podcast app. Sharing this podcast with your friends and family is also a great way to support this venture.
Thanks for listening!
Sally