Peagood’s nonsuch Offshoot
Entering the walled garden at Burghley House
Andy Peasgood’s plant story has led us on the most fascinating journey and I don’t think it is yet over. He remembered an enormous apple, the size of a small training football, on a tree that grew in his grandparent’s garden. He was curious because it shared his surname. So we went on the trail of the Peasgood’s nonsuch apple tree going back over 150 years to a young woman who planted an apple pip. Her great granddaughter who lives in British Colombia in Canada, had all the papers from the RHS dated 1872, conferring a first class certificate on the apple from the resulting tree which since the young girl had married a Mr Peasgood was now named the Peasgood’s nonsuch apple.
Today we stop off at Burghley House because of a man called Mr R Gilbert who also liked the apple. We know he liked it because in 1883 he took some to the National Apple Conference. (Another apple was getting quite a lot of attention at that conference - The Bramley!)
I was curious about Mr R Gilbert and thanks to Joe Whitehead the current Headgardener at Burghley House I now know a lot more about this accomplished Victorian, multiple prize winning, gardener. In this offshoot episode we are focused on the walled kitchen garden at Burghley, worked by 120 gardeners, producing fruit and vegetables for the whole estate, cut flowers sent to Covent Garden and as Mr Gilbert boasted - the skill and ability to put a pineapple on the table, every day of the year.
These walled gardens were abandoned in the 1960s but watch this space - they are about to be filled again with plants and I am sure people. But in the meantime we are privileged to have a sneak preview of the site before the changes, privy to the ideas in Joe’s head. He has spent many hours thinking about the site and his vision and passion for the project is clear to see. I really hope we will return to see how it develops.
So while we wait, enjoy this Offshoot episode and allow audio to take you to a place that must once have been bustling with life with its team of 120 gardeners!
The fruit galleries (middle top photo) run either side of Mr Gilbert’s office which overlooks the walled garden. The wooden cabinet once held his prizes and certificates including those for mushrooms grown in the mushroom house in the centre photo. Once the fig tree would have been growing in a glass Fig house, sadly all the glasshouses have gone.
There will be Peasgood’s nonsuch trees in the gardens and Denis Smith who joined us has more to add to that story in a forthcoming Offshoot. It seems we’re getting closer to the apple though I still haven’t actually seen one! So if you know anyone who has a Peasgood with apples, do let me know!
If you have enjoyed this episode and would like to support a second series you can do so here.
If you want to catch up on Andy Peasgood’s original plant story you can listen here
And a listener - Linda, who recently ‘bought me a coffee’, shared with me where you can buy a Peasgood’s Nonsuch apple tree - so good luck to anyone who decides to plant one, let me know how you get on!