THEGARDENOFENGLAND
THE SECRET GARDEN
“ If you look the right way , you can see that the whole world is a garden .” From The Secret Garden , by Frances Hodgeson Burnett
WORDS AND IMAGES BY LUCY MOHR
THE NOVEL , THE SECRET GARDEN , IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CHILDREN ’ S BOOKS IN HISTORY BUT FEW PEOPLE KNOW THAT IT WAS INSPIRED BY A REAL-LIFE GARDEN BELONGING TO GREAT MAYTHAM HALL IN ROLVENDEN AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY .
The novel , The Secret Garden , was written in 1911 by Frances Hodgeson Burnett , a twice divorced female novelist who rented the grand house between 1898- 1907 . During her time there , she discovered an overgrown iron gate that led to an abandoned walled orchard . Taken with the discovery , Frances set about planting roses all over the orchard and would spend her days there writing . Four years after she left the property , Frances wrote The Secret Garden , the much loved children ’ s tale which centres around a neglected orphan girl whose life is transformed by the discovery of a beautiful and forgotten garden . The book went on to inspire four film adaptations over the last century ; the latest , featuring Colin Firth and Julie Walters , was released just last year .
The original house of Great Maytham Hall was built in 1721 , but after a fire destroyed much of it it was rebuilt on a much grander scale in 1893 for The Right Honourable Harold Tennant , a prominent Liberal Member of Parliament . Frances , who was in her late forties at the time of renting the property , found the walled garden by chance when – just as in the book – a robin led her there . The iron gate , hidden amongst the ivy , led to a garden that ignited her imagination and led to her writing one of the most famous works in literature . The part of the garden that Frances loved the most was the orchard ‘ room ’, one of three ‘ rooms ’ that comprise the woodland edged gardens of the grand house , and it was here that she planted hundreds of roses and set up a table and chair in the gazebo . Always in a white dress and large hat , Frances wrote a number of books amongst the peace and tranquillity of the paradise she ’ d found .
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