< Back Bryan Hewitt on Myddelton House Gardens Bryan Hewitt on Myddelton House Gardens Artist Name 00:00 / 01:33 Bryan Hewitt: I think Bowles’s importance to the modern gardener is because..that.. he’s packed with such good advice about how to grow plants well. Well, you only have to read his books. I mean the style of writing is extremely entertaining even after it’s nearly a century since they were published. … Read his books and you may get a level of the pleasure that Mr Bowles got from growing his plants well. … I get a measure of pride from being part of this and being associated with such an interesting and very kind old man. It is a really wonderful place to work and I think it’s quite intoxicating for me, even after all these years, from smells and from the light coming through and hitting a plant in a certain way at various times of the day. MUSIC: (Reprise) Hide & Seek Rag (McConnell - ATV 8B 43) FADE IN AND UNDER It’s a very peaceful, happy place. One feels that there is a presence here still; that there is a benign presence, that he really hasn’t quite left the site and I hope that he’s happy with what we’re doing. MUSIC: Fade up and under final SFX SFX – A SINGLE WHISTLER AND A RESPONDING WHISTLER

< Back History of the Bowling Green Lawn History of the Bowling Green Lawn Artist Name 00:00 / 01:14 This lawn is named after Bowling Green House -– a large Elizabethan building that stood here until the early 19th century. The path here is where the drive was located that ran up to the original house from the road. Bowling Green House was home to Bowles’s 18th century ancestors, the Garnaults. - It is possible that the house took its name from a bowling green that existed here in the days when the Royal Palace of Elsinge stood nearby - in the grounds of what is now Forty Hall. The palace was demolished in the mid-17th century. Recently, excavations and surveys were carried out to pinpoint the exact position of Bowling Green House on the lawn, but they only revealed bits of debris and bricks – nothing to give a real sense of the fine building that once stood here. In 1799, on the day Anne Garnault married the print seller and publisher Henry Carrington Bowles, she planted a swamp cypress at the eastern end of the lawn. It grew to be 80 feet tall, before it blew down in the great storm of 1987.

< Back 9. Far Side of the Pond 9. Far Side of the Pond Artist Name 00:00 / 02:00 Several stands of Gunnera manicata – often called giant rhubarb – grow on the edge of the pond. These are remnants from an enormous plant that once grew in the Alpine Meadow. One visitor to the garden claimed he came across Gunnera manicata in South America. - It was so massive that a man on horseback could shelter beneath the leaves. When he saw Bowles’ plant he was impressed, declaring it the largest he had ever known. “But”, said Bowles, “you told me you had seen a man on horseback beneath gunneras in Chile. “So I have”, replied the visitor, “but it was a very small man and a very short pony”. Across the pond is a royal fern, or Osmunda regalis . Bowles called it the pièce de resistance’ of the pond. In the 1860s Bowles’ friend, John Walker Ford, bought it for 6 pence from a tramp who was carrying it on his back as he walked down London’s Fleet Street. Ford planted it by a pool in his father’s garden at Enfield Old Park. It grew larger each year. Eventually, before the First World War, Ford offered Bowles the plant if he could move it whole. Bowles told the story: Voice of Bowles: Our bailiff and I went and looked at it, and we scratched our heads over it, and decided that, short of hiring a strong crane for the purpose, we could not undertake to uproot it and haul it over the stone wall at its back, and I regretfully declined the kind offer. Then came a letter to say I might take it in any manner I could accomplish, as that was better than its being chopped up and distributed in portions . Narrator: In the end it was cut into three pieces, and it remains here to this day – although it is much smaller than it was when Bowles rescued it.

< Back 2. Myddelton House 2. Myddelton House Artist Name 00:00 / 02:15 Myddelton House was built in the early 19th century. By Victorian standards it is not large, although it does have some 25 rooms above ground level. The basement was big enough to fit a servants’ hall, a warren of domestic offices, the kitchen - with a huge double range, the butler’s pantry, scullery, day larder, poultry larder, boot room and wine cellar. Just imagine what it must have been like… SFX: Audio Montage of a busy household Each day, at dusk, it took two housemaids an hour to close the folding shutters. There was no gas or electricity – only oil lamps that had to be trimmed, polished and filled. Candlesticks were put out ready on the hall table. There were silver candlesticks for visitors, brass for family, and in the basement the servants’ used huge tin ones, called “dripping pans”. By the 1920’s, visitors to Myddelton House found themselves in a world where time seemed to have stood still for half a century. In fact, Bowles never had electricity put in here. And gas was only installed in the house after the Second World War, when the Austrian cook said she would not work here without it. After Bowles died in 1954, the contents of the house were sold at auction. The sale went on for three days! Although some paintings stayed within the family, many of Bowles’s finest water-colours are now housed at the Natural History Museum in Kensington and at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Library. The house and grounds were sold to The Royal Free Hospital and the London School of Pharmacy. Even though he is now long dead, visitors to Myddelton often note the warm atmosphere and say that it feels as if Bowles is still here.

< Back The Great Storm by Bryan Hewitt The Great Storm by Bryan Hewitt Artist Name 00:00 / 01:07 Narrator: Bryan Hewitt is a senior gardener at Myddelton. He will tell us about the damage done to the garden during the night of the terrible storm, in 1987: Bryan Hewitt: …the huge old cedar tree that was in the middle of the stone bed … was well over a hundred feet tall and when it came down the roots knocked over the petrified tree, and it also knocked over, sadly, the old well boring … that came from Whitewebbs Pumping Station, dating back to about 1897 when they created the pumping station there. That got knocked over and that simply smashed. Being limestone I suppose it didn’t really have a chance.... … there was a vast poplar tree; it was a black poplar in the wild garden… and …that came down in the storm …There was a yew tree near the pond … quite a large one that came down. Another tree that got sent flying was the kalopanax tree, which was also on the drive; that was a good specimen. Fortunately a nut must have been swept up and that germinated and you can see that in the wild garden to this day. …

< Back History of the house and the Bowles family History of the house and the Bowles family Artist Name 00:00 / 01:36 Image credit: RHS collection Bowles had Huguenot ancestors - the Garnaults – who lived in Bowling Green House, an Elizabethan building that stood near this site. The Garnaults settled in England in the late 17th century after they fled from religious persecution in France. They made their fortune as craftsmen jewellers and went on to use their wealth to buy controlling shares in the New River Company. At around the same time, the Bowles family were working as printers and publishers in St Paul’s Churchyard, in London. They produced maps, portraits and political cartoons - including William Hogarth’s famous series, The Rake’s Progress. The two families were united in February 1799, when Henry Carrington Bowles married Anne Garnault. Anne inherited the Bowling Green House Estate. She died in 1812, when she was only 41. After her death, and despite his success in business, Henry Carrington Bowles felt ashamed of being associated with “trade”,. And he wanted to escape his title: Mr Bowles of Bowling Green House! He demolished the Elizabethan house and replaced it with a smarter more imposing, fashionable, yellow brick residence. The new family home was named Myddelton House - after Sir Hugh Myddelton, the imaginative engineer who built the New River. A section of that river used to flow through the garden.

< Back Tulip Terrace Memories Tulip Terrace Memories Artist Name 00:00 / 01:18 Narrator: When Bowles was a child he enjoyed rolling down the grassy slope here. – But only when his ever-protective governess was not looking! The patch below the terrace on the south bank of the New River was always one of his favourite areas. He remembered it as “the sunny plot”. When he took the garden over there were some crocuses growing here. Crocuses were to become his “first garden love”. Among gardeners he was known as the Crocus King, and with good reason. Maurice Mantle, a gardener at Myddelton in the 1930s, remembered six or seven hundred different bulbs growing in the kitchen garden’s cold frames. Many of these had been sent to Bowles by horticultural gardens, and some of them were extremely rare. Bowles was proud of the fact that his was possibly the most comprehensive crocus collection in the world. At the western end of the kitchen garden wall, next to the steps, you can see where, in 1887 Bowles, his brother, Henry Ferryman Bowles, and a Cambridge friend, TAH, carved their initials into the bricks.

< Back Wesley Kerr Wesley Kerr Artist Name 00:00 / 01:34 Wesley Kerr: I’m Wesley Kerr… I’m a very keen horticulturalist and I come into the Myddelton House story because I have the honour to chair the London Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund. … The Bowles story at Myddelton House when it came to my committee in September 2008 was immediately electrifying when I read the paper. ...This is one of the great gardens that was created in the last century… I think of …. Myddelton House as one of London’s most poetic horticultural plantations: it speaks to us of landscape, of river, of man working with nature, of a wonderful warm interesting human being. It’s chocca full of incredible plants which have something new to say to us every week because the plants are constantly evolving as they emerge from the soil. … Bowles,… or Gus as I prefer to call him, was one of the great plants-people of the last 150 years. By the time he was 30 he’d collected over 125 different crocus varieties. He grew all the possible crocuses that will survive in the British Isles,… I think that one new, special place is going to be the brand new glasshouse which is going to be one of the great glasshouses of London and will bring back Bowles’ spirit. … I think that the buildings, the artefacts are as important in creating the magic of Myddelton House as the plants. …

< Back 4. Bowling Green Lawn 4. Bowling Green Lawn Artist Name 00:00 / 01:15 Narrator: In 1914, Bowles wrote: Voice of Bowles: I have never felt disgust for variegated foliage evinced by so many good gardeners and in many cases I warmly admire it. SFX: Sound of children playing games/laughter Narrator: At the far end of the lawn there are two large beds of variegated plants that Bowles referred to as “Tom Tiddlers Ground ”. – He named them after an old children’s game – Tom Tiddler . The aim of the game was for a child to defend a patch of ground, which was supposed to be where he kept a store of gold and silver. In these two beds Bowles applied a loose theme to his planting – with golden leaved plants to one side, silver leaves in the middle and purple leaved plants on the other side. The larch tree – or Larix Decidua - at the edge of the bed was planted in 1985 to replace an earlier one, which was thought to have grown here for around 280 years.

< Back to What's On Guided Bird Walk Join London Wildlife Trust on a beginner-friendly walk of Walthamstow Wetlands to spot as many birds as possible! Date: 26 July Time: 10:30 - 12:00 £11.06 Walthamstow Wetlands Location: Book your space > Are you curious about the bird species found at Walthamstow Wetlands? Or perhaps you just want to know a little more about the birds that share our city. This beginner-friendly walk is perfect for those wanting to boost their bird-brain, as we'll be sharing identification tips along the way. This gentle walk will be led by a member of London Wildlife Trust staff and will follow reserve paths, though there may be some slight inclines. Strong stout footwear is recommended. The walk will last approximately 1.5 hours and will be fully outdoors, so dress for the weather! We have a limited number of binoculars to lend; please bring your own if you have them. This event is aimed at adults aged 18+, but can be inclusive for young people aged 11 and above, who must be accompanied by an adult. Further information will be sent out prior to the event. What to expect 🦆 Staff-led birdwatching walk. 🔍 Get tips on how to improve your bird ID skills. 🌸 Enjoy the seasonal sights and sounds of the wetlands. The birds on our reserve are wild, so we can’t guarantee sightings of particular species. However, this unpredictability is all part of the joy of birding! All proceeds from this event enable London Wildlife Trust's mission of nature recovery for a thriving city. Previous Next

< Back to What's On Guided Bird Walk with Bonner Black Join London Wildlife Trust and singer Bonner Black on a beginner-friendly birdwatching walk of Walthamstow Wetlands. Date: 22 March Time: 10:00 - 12:15 £10 Walthamstow Wetlands Location: Book your space > Would you like to know why Walthamstow Wetlands is internationally important as a reserve and which birds call this green space home? This is your opportunity to learn more alongside singer Bonner Black and London Wildlife Trust. 🥾walk on reserve paths, though there may be some slight inclines; strong stout footwear is recommended ⏳ approximately 2 hours and will be fully outdoors, so dress for the weather 🦆We have a limited number of binoculars to lend; please bring your own if you have them This event is aimed at adults aged 18+, but can be inclusive for young people aged 11 and above, who must be accompanied by an adult. Further information will be sent out prior to the event. The birds on our reserve are wild, so we can’t guarantee sightings of particular species. However, this unpredictability is all part of the joy of birding! Bonner Black was raised in the unincorporated town of Hot Rock, Tennessee and moved to Nashville a week after she turned 17 to pursue music. In 2016 she received the Artist Entrepreneur Award from The Oxford Center of Entrepreneurs at The Times Center in New York City. Her songs have accumulated 900k+ streams with the release of two EPs and her debut Album, “Hopeless RomANTICS,” featuring songs that landed placements on the New York Times 2023 Spring Playlist, Spotify’s Fresh Finds Pop, Apple Music’s Breaking Singer-Songwriter. Over a decade of touring has taken her from the West Coast, to her headlining US “Fall Migration Tour” on the East Coast, and across the ocean to the UK where she will be returning this year for her second tour. In 2026 she will release her fourth studio project, a 5 song EP titled, “Little Bird In A Big Sky.” Also an avid birdwatcher and conservation advocate, her birding videos gained over 15 million views in 2025. She has collaborated with The Audubon Society in the US, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the UK, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Integrating her enthusiasm for birds and songwriting, she has cultivated a unique and devout community and hosts bird & nature walks before her live shows, teaming up with local conservation groups to highlight conservation efforts and nurture the local communities she travels to. All proceeds from this event enable London Wildlife Trust's mission of nature recovery for a thriving city. Image credits: Eleanor Church (1), Bonner Black (2) and Mandi Fountain (3, @mandifountainphotos) Previous Next