0:00:06 > 0:00:08I'm in a garden right in the middle of London,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11and it's very nice - nice and big -
0:00:11 > 0:00:14but it's unremarkable.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18There must be a score of gardens very similar to this
0:00:18 > 0:00:20within half a mile...
0:00:21 > 0:00:23..but if this garden could speak,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26what stories it could tell.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32It could tell us about the great city that rose up around it,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and how it became the centre of a mighty empire.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39It would be in a unique position to tell us about a country at war,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43from the threat of Napoleonic invasion to IRA bombs -
0:00:43 > 0:00:46and it could tell us the stories of the people
0:00:46 > 0:00:48who lived and visited here,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51from the first owner, who spied for Oliver Cromwell,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54to the Iron Lady with a passion for roses
0:00:54 > 0:00:58and the American president who cooked a barbecue on its lawn.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08I believe that gardens are every bit as important
0:01:08 > 0:01:10as the buildings we live and work in...
0:01:12 > 0:01:17..and if we can unearth their secrets and listen to their stories,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20we get a unique insight into our history,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23and what makes us the people that we are today.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30In this series, I will show not just how gardening has changed
0:01:30 > 0:01:31over the last four centuries,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35but discover why these changes have occurred,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37and who has driven them.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39And there she is.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41- He's an artist, I guess?- Yeah.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Although I bet he never saw himself like that.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46In this episode,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50I shall be exploring the gardens of the 17th century.
0:01:50 > 0:01:51This is grand, isn't it?
0:01:54 > 0:01:57I shall be working with tools of the period
0:01:57 > 0:02:00to discover just how gardens of the 1600s were maintained.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02Whoa, look at that!
0:02:03 > 0:02:07I'll be getting 400-year-old inside information...
0:02:07 > 0:02:10This is showing you how to lay out your string lines...
0:02:10 > 0:02:13- Oh, I see!- ..and then build it up and build it up.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16..and a long-lost garden will reveal the secret symbols
0:02:16 > 0:02:19of our forebears' religious beliefs.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Am I reading this right, that what we're looking at is...
0:02:22 > 0:02:24is a labyrinth?
0:02:41 > 0:02:42HOT-AIR BALLOON BURNER FIRES
0:03:01 > 0:03:04I'm floating above the Cumbrian countryside,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08and directly below me is the garden of Levens Hall.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21And Levens Hall is the only surviving garden
0:03:21 > 0:03:23from the 17th century.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29There are other gardens from the 1600s that have been restored,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33but none which have endured, unchanged,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35since they were first made -
0:03:35 > 0:03:39and if you want to step into the homes,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43the lives or, more importantly, the minds
0:03:43 > 0:03:47of our ancestors who lived in that century,
0:03:47 > 0:03:49this is the best place to start.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Levens Hall was first laid out in 1692,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10at the end of a century marked by great changes and upheavals -
0:04:10 > 0:04:13as well as advances and achievements,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17all of which transformed the country's gardens.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Every aspect of the garden, every element of its design,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30has its roots in the history of that turbulent century.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47Over the past 300 years, it has matured and evolved
0:04:47 > 0:04:50in a way that its makers could never have envisaged...
0:04:51 > 0:04:55..but where other gardens of the period have fallen into ruin,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57or been completely refashioned,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02here, the original layout survives and has been lovingly maintained.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Levens owes its longevity
0:05:05 > 0:05:09to the continuity of 11 generations of the same family
0:05:09 > 0:05:11that have looked after it -
0:05:11 > 0:05:13and for the past 39 years,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15the custodians of this extraordinary garden
0:05:15 > 0:05:17have been Hal and Susie Bagot.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23This is a portrait of Colonel James Graham,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25who was Privy Purse to James II,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28so he was very prominent in the Stuart court.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31He looked after the finances of the King.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34- So, a powerful position. - Oh, very powerful position.- Right.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37- And he bought this house, did he? - Oh, yes.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40And has it been bought and sold since then?
0:05:40 > 0:05:43No. That's the only time it's ever changed hands.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45And who did he get to make the garden for him?
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Well, he brought in Beaumont - Guillaume Beaumont -
0:05:47 > 0:05:51a French gardener who had worked for King James.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Plans drawn up 50 years after the garden had been completed
0:05:59 > 0:06:03give us a sense of what Beaumont's original vision for Levens Hall
0:06:03 > 0:06:05may have looked like 300 years ago.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07I just love the little figures -
0:06:07 > 0:06:09I mean, look at these two rather grand ladies
0:06:09 > 0:06:11standing at the front door.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17I love the man with the tricorn hat wheeling his wheelbarrow.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20- Aren't they lovely? - The lovely hedged walks.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24And these are the original beech hedges of the time -
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and they are now enormous in the garden.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30The main topiary area is there.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34- And of course the Wilderness, you see...- Yes.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37..would have been laid out very formally, then.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Bowling green's still there, but not bowls now - croquet.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45What's interesting about this is it shows the layout,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48but it doesn't give much indication -
0:06:48 > 0:06:49for example, here -
0:06:49 > 0:06:51of what these were.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55- So, actually, the more you look at it, the harder it is to read.- Yeah.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Although the general picture is wonderful,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00and laid out and exact.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02- Interesting.- Very. Mm.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12The only plan of Levens Hall provides a tantalising hint
0:07:12 > 0:07:14at the mind at work behind the garden,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17but the details remain frustratingly elusive.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23I will be returning to Levens,
0:07:23 > 0:07:28but to understand what inspired and influenced those plans,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30I need to delve much further back -
0:07:30 > 0:07:32to the very beginning of the century.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41I'm on my way to visit a building that I've never seen before
0:07:41 > 0:07:43but I've read an awful lot about -
0:07:43 > 0:07:45and I know that it was never finished,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49and apparently there's no garden attached...
0:07:49 > 0:07:52but within the structure that IS there,
0:07:52 > 0:07:53there are clues,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57and if you can break the code,
0:07:57 > 0:08:03then the garden reveals itself in fascinating detail.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16This is Lyveden New Bield...
0:08:18 > 0:08:20..and it's a garden building.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27One of the most magnificent garden buildings
0:08:27 > 0:08:30ever constructed in this country...
0:08:30 > 0:08:31but it was never finished.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37It was made by a man called Sir Thomas Tresham -
0:08:37 > 0:08:40I've got a picture of him here.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43He was a wealthy and successful nobleman -
0:08:43 > 0:08:47successful because he was knighted by Elizabeth I,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50and you can see him here in this magnificent armour,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53showing off his wealth -
0:08:53 > 0:09:00but the armour is decorated beautifully with trefoils,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and that is part of the code
0:09:03 > 0:09:05that is inscribed all over the building.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Trefoil was the symbol of the trinity -
0:09:08 > 0:09:12the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost -
0:09:12 > 0:09:14and this was really significant,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16because Tresham was a Catholic.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23In an age dominated by the conflict between Catholics and Protestants,
0:09:23 > 0:09:27the intricacies of faith of our 17th century ancestors
0:09:27 > 0:09:31is the key to understanding their homes and gardens,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35because they are often packed with religious codes and messages.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38So, the first thing you notice with this entrance porch
0:09:38 > 0:09:41is that it's got five sides to the bay -
0:09:41 > 0:09:43one, two...
0:09:43 > 0:09:47three...four...
0:09:47 > 0:09:51five - and each side is five foot long -
0:09:51 > 0:09:54three, four, five.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Five times five - 25.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01That symbolises the 25th of December, Christ's birthday,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05and the 25th of March, the date of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Immediately, as a Catholic, you would get that -
0:10:08 > 0:10:10you would start to read into this.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13It's a message to you. You're amongst friends -
0:10:13 > 0:10:16and these are very persecuted friends.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19And there's one last clue
0:10:19 > 0:10:22that isn't immediately apparent,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25but, as you walk around, it reveals itself,
0:10:25 > 0:10:30and that is that the whole building is in the shape of a cross.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39On account of his Catholic faith,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Tresham was constantly in and out of prison,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44which is one of the reasons why his plans for Lyveden
0:10:44 > 0:10:45were never completed.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50This building, which he called The Lodge,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52was intended to be a banqueting house
0:10:52 > 0:10:56where fellow Catholics could gather in relative safety.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01The best rooms would have been at the top of the building,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05where his guests could look out and admire Tresham's grand estate -
0:11:05 > 0:11:08and, even more importantly, his magnificent garden.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Now, Sir Thomas Tresham never lived to see the building completed.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20He died early in 1605.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26Work stopped, and then, later in 1605, the Catholic plot,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30which has come to be known as the Gunpowder Plot, was discovered.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34His son was involved, thrown into the Tower,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36and also died later that year.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39And this building stood unattended,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43and it's been untouched for 400 years -
0:11:43 > 0:11:47and the garden that we look down on was ploughed up,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50trees grew on it, and it disappeared, too...
0:11:50 > 0:11:52until recently.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Very recently, clues have been discovered
0:11:57 > 0:12:02that reveal what Thomas Tresham's garden of 1600 may have looked like.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09Mark Bradshaw from the National Trust
0:12:09 > 0:12:13has found that hidden religious codes and symbols
0:12:13 > 0:12:15weren't only confined to the buildings.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20So, we've arrived at the site, here, of Tresham's house.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Archaeological research indicates that from the house,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Tresham and his guests would have walked up
0:12:27 > 0:12:30through a series of seven terraces,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34symbolising the seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37They would then have arrived at an orchard,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41which has recently been restored using the original planting holes.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Do you know what amazes me about this?
0:12:46 > 0:12:50I had no idea that gardens were being made on such a scale.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53This is grand, isn't it?
0:12:54 > 0:12:59There's over 306 trees, 25 different varieties,
0:12:59 > 0:13:04from damsons and gage and plums, to apples and pears...
0:13:04 > 0:13:06avenue of cherries.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09This is statement gardening,
0:13:09 > 0:13:15showing wealth, ingenuity, ability to obtain these varieties,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18bring them into your garden - to show off.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Until the beginning of this century,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22it was believed that the rest of Lyveden's garden
0:13:22 > 0:13:25had been ploughed up and irretrievably lost,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29but a fresh clue has revealed a remarkable feature
0:13:29 > 0:13:32that lay hidden for 400 years.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36This is an aerial photograph
0:13:36 > 0:13:38that in 2003 we obtained
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- from Maryland in the US.- Right.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45It's an aerial photograph taken by the German Luftwaffe
0:13:45 > 0:13:49in the 1940s, and we're standing around about here -
0:13:49 > 0:13:53and where we're looking out over looks like an open field today
0:13:53 > 0:13:56- but can you...?- I can see...
0:13:56 > 0:13:58Am I reading this right?
0:13:58 > 0:14:00That what we're looking at is...
0:14:01 > 0:14:03..a labyrinth?
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Your heart must have almost stopped beating
0:14:06 > 0:14:08- when you saw that picture.- Oh!
0:14:08 > 0:14:10We'd had earlier aerial photographs,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12and we'd just never picked up that sort of detail,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15- but the light...that the day this photograph was taken...- Yeah.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17..the time of year,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21just captured what are very subtle changes in ground level.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Well, having discovered this,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26- and after you had all sat down and got your breath back...- Yeah!
0:14:26 > 0:14:28..what did you do?
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Literally, we came in with mowers and started cutting the path -
0:14:32 > 0:14:36as accurately as possible to this representation...
0:14:36 > 0:14:40and we've continued cutting that over the last number of years.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Labyrinths were a popular feature
0:14:46 > 0:14:51in many gardens of the 16th and early 17th centuries.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55Tresham's labyrinth was over a mile in length,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59and designed to be walked as an act of contemplation,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03the journey representing the tortuous but true path of the Catholic
0:15:03 > 0:15:05through life and on to heaven.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08Letters have been found that reveal
0:15:08 > 0:15:11that Tresham lined what he called his circular beds -
0:15:11 > 0:15:13but which we now know to be a labyrinth -
0:15:13 > 0:15:16with white roses and raspberry plants.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20The raspberries would have symbolised the blood of Christ,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23the roses the purity of the Virgin Mary.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Now, with the help of an aerial photograph and a lawnmower,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32we can once again reveal Tresham's 400-year-old
0:15:32 > 0:15:35horticultural expression of faith.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39It's a fascinating insight into the hidden messages
0:15:39 > 0:15:43that lie below the surface of these gardens.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Lyveden has revealed and hinted at some of the clues
0:16:00 > 0:16:03to the secrets of the 17th century garden,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05but I'm now keen to discover more.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09So I've come to the Lindley Library in central London,
0:16:09 > 0:16:11where the Royal Horticultural Society
0:16:11 > 0:16:15holds some of the earliest books published on the British garden -
0:16:15 > 0:16:16and straight away I realise
0:16:16 > 0:16:20that I have underestimated what good records there are from this period.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24This is the period that is like the Dark Ages in many ways -
0:16:24 > 0:16:25but clearly it's not.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28It's not if you can turn to primary sources, to books.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30- In terms of what's left on the ground, it is.- Nothing.
0:16:30 > 0:16:31- There's nothing...- Nothing.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35..but luckily it's the time when there's an explosion in printing,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38- an explosion in publishing.- Yeah.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40The archivist Fiona Davidson
0:16:40 > 0:16:44has selected some gems from this burst of publishing
0:16:44 > 0:16:47that tell us a huge amount about our 17th century forebears'
0:16:47 > 0:16:50relationship with their plants and gardens.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53And they're beautiful objects, too. Aren't they lovely?
0:16:53 > 0:16:55What's this book, here?
0:16:55 > 0:16:56The Gardeners Labyrinth,
0:16:56 > 0:17:00which is often quoted as being the first popular gardening book
0:17:00 > 0:17:03- in English, so it's a good place to start.- When was it written?
0:17:03 > 0:17:06It was written - this copy is 1586.
0:17:06 > 0:17:12And there is a very ornate patterned form.
0:17:12 > 0:17:13- Mm.- What's going on there?
0:17:13 > 0:17:15So, these are the designs for the knot gardens,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18and you'll find there are quite a few of them.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20- And that's like a labyrinth.- Mm.
0:17:20 > 0:17:28So, entwined, elaborate hedges made out of thyme, or herbs of any kind -
0:17:28 > 0:17:30- maybe box, but low hedges.- Mm.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33These were there for the gardener to look at
0:17:33 > 0:17:35and get some inspiration from -
0:17:35 > 0:17:39- but if you look at the book along... - Yeah.- ..next, it gets more practical,
0:17:39 > 0:17:44because this is showing you how to lay out bits of string
0:17:44 > 0:17:47in order to calculate your square and get your dimensions right.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52What was the reason they were using these very elaborate forms?
0:17:52 > 0:17:55- Well, we think...- Mm.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00..that it's to do with having control over nature
0:18:00 > 0:18:02and showing that you've got...
0:18:02 > 0:18:05There's a pattern and a plan to creation,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07- and you've made it - you've built that pattern...- Yeah.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09..so you've demonstrated
0:18:09 > 0:18:13that you've got an understanding of complexity,
0:18:13 > 0:18:14but you've also got control.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17- You've got control - and it is to the glory of God.- Mm-hm. Yes.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Just get this out of the way...
0:18:19 > 0:18:24Like Tresham's labyrinth, using patterns to reflect order
0:18:24 > 0:18:27was one method to communicate religious messages -
0:18:27 > 0:18:29but there was also another way.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32This is the rather elaborate frontispiece,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34and it's the garden of Eden,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36this idea of God as a gardener,
0:18:36 > 0:18:38- and Creation as a garden.- Mm.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41These are the beautiful plants for your paradise garden.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44But what's really interesting about it
0:18:44 > 0:18:47is the mixture of plants that you'd recognise...
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Well, I can see, tulip, pineapple...
0:18:50 > 0:18:52So, these are plants of the New World, as well.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54- Yeah - there's a lily. - Cactus, as well.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58- And what's that? - At this moment in history,
0:18:58 > 0:19:02it's the mix between exploration and mythology,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05because this is the Tartary lamb -
0:19:05 > 0:19:07it's this idea that somewhere in the mysterious East
0:19:07 > 0:19:10grew a plant that sent up a shoot,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12and at the end of the shoot a little lamb grew,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15and then would eat its way around -
0:19:15 > 0:19:17still tethered like an umbilical cord to the shoot -
0:19:17 > 0:19:20and then it would run out of grass and it would die.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23People believed in them,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26because other wonders were being discovered all the time.
0:19:26 > 0:19:27So why not that?
0:19:28 > 0:19:31In the age before scientific understanding,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35it's clear that religious symbolism played a key role in garden design -
0:19:35 > 0:19:38but the idealised image of a Garden of Eden
0:19:38 > 0:19:40combined with sheer greed
0:19:40 > 0:19:45also drove what became a frenzy to acquire new and exotic plants.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48There's no question that tulips
0:19:48 > 0:19:51were the most important plant in the 17th century.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55People became obsessed by them -
0:19:55 > 0:19:59and in the 1630s, particularly in Holland,
0:19:59 > 0:20:05tulip mania was the first case of a bubble and a credit crunch,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08because people noticed that these bulbs,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11newly imported from the Ottoman Empire, in Turkey,
0:20:11 > 0:20:16had a tendency to go from a plain flower
0:20:16 > 0:20:20to one that the following year would appear streaked,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22and flushed with colour,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26and these apparitions - what we now call breaking -
0:20:26 > 0:20:28were admired, and held to be valuable,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and, of course, things that are valuable then can be sold,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34and rapidly these prices became inflated,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36and you speculated on it happening.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40So, what it would mean is that you would take a simple bulb like this,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42an ordinary tulip bulb,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46sell it to someone in the hope that it would break,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49and by the time it went from being planted as a bulb
0:20:49 > 0:20:50to appearing as a flower,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53it could have been sold ten times -
0:20:53 > 0:20:55and vast fortunes were made,
0:20:55 > 0:21:02and, in fact, I've noted down, one bulb of a variety called Viceroy
0:21:02 > 0:21:09was sold in the 1630s for two cartloads of wheat,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12two cartloads of rye, 12 fat sheep,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15two hogshead - that's 100 gallons - of wine,
0:21:15 > 0:21:20one bed, one suit of clothes, four fat oxen, eight fat swine,
0:21:20 > 0:21:251,000 gallons of beer, two tuns - that's two barrels - of butter,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29one silver drinking horn and 1,000 pounds of cheese -
0:21:29 > 0:21:31and you could only hope
0:21:31 > 0:21:35that it was a beautiful flower at the end of all that.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Well, the bubble burst, fortunes were lost,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42capitalism crashed around its ears - but the tulip endured.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50This tulip mania was a very strange affair -
0:21:50 > 0:21:52although perhaps not so different
0:21:52 > 0:21:54from the booms and crashes of recent times -
0:21:54 > 0:21:57but what was essential to the age
0:21:57 > 0:22:02was the idea that the more one could tame and control nature,
0:22:02 > 0:22:07the greater the demonstration of wealth, status and power.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09I've come to Hampton Court,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13where, following a bitter civil war that had seen Charles I executed,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17a republic under Oliver Cromwell rise and fall,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21the new King, Charles II, chose to mark his return from exile
0:22:21 > 0:22:25with one of the century's most iconic garden features.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30This piece of water is really significant.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35You've got to remember that Charles had just come back from exile -
0:22:35 > 0:22:41this is 1660 - and one of the first things he does is to make this.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45And the context is that he's been driven out of the country -
0:22:45 > 0:22:47there was a terrible civil war,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51and, as far as he was concerned, a monstrous regicide
0:22:51 > 0:22:53as his father was murdered.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57So he returns, and he does this.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00What it does is slice through the landscape -
0:23:00 > 0:23:01it straightens a river.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04You've got the avenue flanking it either side,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06so nature is dominated -
0:23:06 > 0:23:10and this was designed to be seen from the palace looking out,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and everybody there would have read the message,
0:23:13 > 0:23:19which was that "I am in command, not just of you, my people,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21"but of nature itself."
0:23:25 > 0:23:28The Long Water introduced a French style
0:23:28 > 0:23:31that had inspired Charles during his exile in Paris,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33and, for the privileged few who could afford it,
0:23:33 > 0:23:38his return to England heralded a new era of extravagant garden building.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45At the vanguard was a neighbour and close ally of the King
0:23:45 > 0:23:47who ploughed a fortune into building
0:23:47 > 0:23:50one of the most fashionable homes in England.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52Bringing together leading architects,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55craftsmen and landscape designers from the continent,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Ham House dispensed with long standing traditions of design,
0:23:59 > 0:24:01to create a contemporary garden
0:24:01 > 0:24:05that was every bit as important as the house itself.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12The great hall is laid out in a very familiar fashion.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17You have a main door at one end and another door directly opposite,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20to create what was a passageway -
0:24:20 > 0:24:24and this would have been familiar to anyone
0:24:24 > 0:24:31from the Norman conquest in 1066 right up to Elizabethan times.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38But what was new
0:24:38 > 0:24:42was the way that what would have been the old cross passage
0:24:42 > 0:24:47was designed along the line of the main axis of the garden,
0:24:47 > 0:24:53so, for the first time, house and garden were designed as one entity -
0:24:53 > 0:24:58and this is really the turning point from a medieval arrangement
0:24:58 > 0:25:01to one that became essentially baroque.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Ham was extended and remodelled in the 1670s
0:25:07 > 0:25:12with all the drama and magnificence of the baroque style,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15and in doing so, the splendour of the new garden
0:25:15 > 0:25:18was revealed wherever possible from inside the house.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22As at Lyveden, the reception rooms were on the first floor,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24so the guests could view the ornate planting
0:25:24 > 0:25:27of the French-inspired parterre from above
0:25:27 > 0:25:29and admire the owner's impeccable taste.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36These changes were propelled by an extremely ambitious woman
0:25:36 > 0:25:39who inherited Ham and then transformed it
0:25:39 > 0:25:42into the exquisite house and garden that we see today.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46- Here we are in the long gallery. - Uh-huh.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49I wanted the house steward, Camilla Churchill,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53to explain to me how this woman, Elizabeth Lauderdale,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56could afford the vast expense of all this.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58And there she is...
0:25:58 > 0:26:01with her black servant...
0:26:01 > 0:26:05And she's got her hand on roses, which signify fertility.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08So, she's possibly pregnant with her first child.
0:26:08 > 0:26:09What sort of person was she?
0:26:09 > 0:26:12She was very well educated.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15She was able to befriend the right people.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Who were the right people?
0:26:17 > 0:26:20The right people? Well, she was a royalist.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23She was friends with Charles I.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26While the Civil War happened, she was also friends with Cromwell.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30It seems that through a combination of guile and charm,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Elizabeth managed to hide her true allegiance
0:26:33 > 0:26:36to the exiled Charles II in France,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39and while publicly she endorsed and befriended Cromwell,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42in secret she was plotting behind his back,
0:26:42 > 0:26:46passing on intelligence from the privacy of her garden at Ham.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49She was part of the Sealed Knot Society,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53corresponding with other royalists on the Continent
0:26:53 > 0:26:57and trying to get Charles II back on the throne in this country -
0:26:57 > 0:27:01presumably supplying political information to him
0:27:01 > 0:27:03to help forward the royalist cause.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09On his return to England, Elizabeth's loyalty to the King
0:27:09 > 0:27:13was rewarded with an annual salary of £800 -
0:27:13 > 0:27:16that's something around about a million pounds in today's values -
0:27:16 > 0:27:20and she spent this new-found wealth on extending the house
0:27:20 > 0:27:24and creating a garden that reflected contemporary fashions.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Medieval knot gardens were swept away and replaced with something
0:27:28 > 0:27:31we would consider very familiar, even very ordinary, today.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37By the 1970s, the garden was pretty overgrown,
0:27:37 > 0:27:42and the decision was made to restore it to its heyday
0:27:42 > 0:27:45300 years previously, in 1675 -
0:27:45 > 0:27:48just after the extensions to the house were done
0:27:48 > 0:27:49and this garden was laid out.
0:27:49 > 0:27:55And, at first glance, these great expanses of lawn seem unlikely -
0:27:55 > 0:28:00think of formal gardens consisting of hedges and patterns -
0:28:00 > 0:28:04but, actually, these plats, as they were called,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07were a symbol of wealth and control,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11because to have a lawn at all - particularly a lawn of this size,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15and eight of them directly in front of the house -
0:28:15 > 0:28:18meant that you had to be able to employ people to cut them.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21There were no lawnmowers - these were cut by scythes.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25A tightly-cut lawn,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28usually used for playing bowls, as at Levens Hall,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31became an essential, fashionable feature
0:28:31 > 0:28:34for late 17th century gardens.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37And so, too, was a Wilderness.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41This was still formal, but a more private space -
0:28:41 > 0:28:44and ideal for a stroll, entertaining guests -
0:28:44 > 0:28:46or even an assignment.
0:28:47 > 0:28:54Wilderness was an exciting mixture of a very controlled wood
0:28:54 > 0:28:58and a touch of the unknowable.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03Somewhere that was just a little bit outside normal life,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06a little bit of frisson of danger -
0:29:06 > 0:29:08BUT very, very organised -
0:29:08 > 0:29:12so, you have these trees pruned so you can see through them
0:29:12 > 0:29:15with hedges clipped tightly underneath them,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19and this use of space, of bringing the wood into the garden
0:29:19 > 0:29:21and the garden into the wood,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25exactly fitted with the new spirit of the age.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Although this garden continued the tradition
0:29:32 > 0:29:35of extreme formality and control over nature,
0:29:35 > 0:29:39you get a real sense that it was designed not just to be admired
0:29:39 > 0:29:43but also used as a place for recreation and pleasure -
0:29:43 > 0:29:45and this modern idea of a garden
0:29:45 > 0:29:49is encapsulated in a painting of Ham done at the time.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57This is one of those iconic images
0:29:57 > 0:30:00that, if you're interested in garden history,
0:30:00 > 0:30:01pop up again and again.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06There you have the duke and duchess
0:30:06 > 0:30:08walking in their garden
0:30:08 > 0:30:11surrounded by what amounts to courtiers -
0:30:11 > 0:30:13this little private court here at Ham House.
0:30:13 > 0:30:18Friends, visitors, hangers-on, all dressed to impress each other
0:30:18 > 0:30:21and the duke and duchess.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25And the little dogs there - King Charles spaniels -
0:30:25 > 0:30:27and that figure in the back...
0:30:28 > 0:30:33..yes, rather a brooding figure of a priest following on behind,
0:30:33 > 0:30:36and the page boy bowing low.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39So, this moment caught of extravagance,
0:30:39 > 0:30:43of a couple in their prime, dominating their world.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46This is somewhere where their lives are being lived -
0:30:46 > 0:30:50and the garden is working as part of the household
0:30:50 > 0:30:55rather than just serving the house - and that's a big change.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58That's an important shift in the use of a garden.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Alongside this evolving use and design,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06the contents of our gardens
0:31:06 > 0:31:09were also significantly changing in this period.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13It was a pioneering age of ever more adventurous travel and trade,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16which saw the influx of new plants from around the globe,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19many intended for the dinner table.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23I wanted to find out what people were eating in the 17th century,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27and if that differed very much from what we eat today.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30- Hello, Vicki, nice to see you. - Hello.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33- These look really good. - Oh, thank you very much! Yes.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36- I love the smell... - Mm! Can't beat fresh carrots.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39..of a newly pulled carrot in the morning.
0:31:39 > 0:31:44I've come back to Hampton Court, where Vicki Cooke and her team
0:31:44 > 0:31:48have recently restored one of the palace's period vegetable gardens.
0:31:49 > 0:31:50We have this idea...
0:31:50 > 0:31:55that they ate meat and then hardly ate any vegetables at all.
0:31:55 > 0:31:56Ah, right, yes -
0:31:56 > 0:32:01well, vegetable eating started to be popularised in this era,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04I think partly due to revolutions in the way that they grew things.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08They had better knowledge of how to get good crops from the land,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12but also it was, I guess, partly a fashion thing.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16People were more aware of the health benefits of eating more vegetables.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Carrots were originally purple and white,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22and then they had some that were selected to be yellow, and then...
0:32:22 > 0:32:24So when did the orange carrots come in?
0:32:24 > 0:32:26Orange carrots came in in the 17th century,
0:32:26 > 0:32:29and they were bred by the Dutch in about the 1650s.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33Some say it was as a patriotic gesture to the house of Orange.
0:32:35 > 0:32:36But these are the purple ones.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38That's beautiful!
0:32:38 > 0:32:39Absolutely gorgeous, aren't they?
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Have you got any white ones?
0:32:41 > 0:32:43We've got some white ones here, yeah.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46You see, that's fantastic.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48- OK, there's carrots. Let's move on. - Mm-hm, yep.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50You've got rather an overgrown...
0:32:50 > 0:32:52what looks like - I don't know, radishes?
0:32:52 > 0:32:54Yes - we have some very overgrown radishes,
0:32:54 > 0:32:55- but they've been left for a reason. - Ah!
0:32:55 > 0:32:58So, these are radishes that have gone to seed,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01but they would have eaten the radish pods as a delicacy.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05Well, the pod is quite tough.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08To be honest, that isn't the nicest thing I've ever eaten.
0:33:08 > 0:33:09THEY LAUGH
0:33:10 > 0:33:15What strikes me is the variety of produce that was being grown.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18In fact, it's a much wider range than most of us grow or eat now.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22Costmary would have been used to flavour ale.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24It has a very strong, distinctive flavour.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27And they used quite tanniny things for beer,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29because it helped preserve it.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31- Oh, gosh.- Yeah, it's quite...
0:33:31 > 0:33:32Wow.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35- Also listed as a salad ingredient. - Oh, no!
0:33:35 > 0:33:39OK, is there anything that they conspicuously didn't grow?
0:33:40 > 0:33:42In the 17th century,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45things like potatoes and tomatoes and runner beans,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48they were very new, they would have been novelties.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51Right - and yet they're pretty much staples for us, aren't they?
0:33:51 > 0:33:53There aren't many gardens that grow vegetables
0:33:53 > 0:33:55- that don't grow a tomato or two. - Exactly, that's it.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Yes, but it would have been dangerously exotic and -
0:33:57 > 0:34:00you know, people were a bit suspicious of these fruits,
0:34:00 > 0:34:02which are all in the same family as deadly nightshade.
0:34:02 > 0:34:03- That's interesting.- Mm.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06Like your lettuce. They're looking really good.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08- Yeah!- Did they eat lettuce as salad, as we do?
0:34:08 > 0:34:10They might have boiled it.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12- Boiled the lettuce?!- Probably! - SHE CHUCKLES
0:34:12 > 0:34:14They seem to have boiled quite a lot of things.
0:34:14 > 0:34:20Exotic new varieties of fruit and vegetables coming into the country
0:34:20 > 0:34:23weren't always equipped to grow in our climate -
0:34:23 > 0:34:27but gardeners had managed to work out an ingenious method
0:34:27 > 0:34:30of nurturing them through to their precious harvest.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33- Oh, look, you've got some melons. - We have actually got some melons.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35'Melons would have been grown in hotbeds,
0:34:35 > 0:34:37'which were an important feature
0:34:37 > 0:34:40'of any aspirational garden in the 1600s.'
0:34:40 > 0:34:42So, how were these hotbeds made?
0:34:42 > 0:34:45So, a hotbed would have been a construction
0:34:45 > 0:34:47a little bit like you can see here - raised off the ground -
0:34:47 > 0:34:51and they would have used a very fresh strawy, manurey mix
0:34:51 > 0:34:52straight out of the stables,
0:34:52 > 0:34:55which would create heat as it breaks down.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00And that is providing an artificially warm environment
0:35:00 > 0:35:02for the seeds to germinate...
0:35:02 > 0:35:04- Yep.- ..and the young plant to grow. - And then the plant to grow.- Yeah.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07Yes, you really need to protect them in those early months.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09- Around August, September time. - That's it, yeah.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12But even earlier - I mean, they were very keen
0:35:12 > 0:35:15that you could show off your status by having a melon out of season.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18So, you know, some gardeners said they could produce melons by May
0:35:18 > 0:35:21for the table, which is quite an impressive feat.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25As our 17th century ancestors sought better methods
0:35:25 > 0:35:29for growing plants out of season or from tropical climates,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32they increasingly began to challenge old superstitions
0:35:32 > 0:35:34that were based on tradition and faith,
0:35:34 > 0:35:38and to embrace a new world where intellect and science
0:35:38 > 0:35:41was applied to gardening for the first time.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46The age of enlightenment had arrived.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53I've come to the country's first botanic garden,
0:35:53 > 0:35:58made specifically in Oxford to observe and study plants.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08The way that people were thinking about themselves
0:36:08 > 0:36:11about the physical world - and, of course, that included plants -
0:36:11 > 0:36:16and explaining it, was changing radically.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20And actually this amounted to a revolution
0:36:20 > 0:36:22in the way that we were looking at the world,
0:36:22 > 0:36:26and the effect of that obviously changed gardens
0:36:26 > 0:36:31and still affects how we make and view gardens to this day.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37To see this legacy for myself,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40I'm paying a visit to the Department of Plant Sciences
0:36:40 > 0:36:42at Oxford University,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45where the collaborative study of science in the late 1600s
0:36:45 > 0:36:47transformed our knowledge of plants.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53We're particularly interested in using this very simple plant
0:36:53 > 0:36:56to understand how rooting systems grow and develop.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59We can identify genes that control those traits,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02then we can begin to use this information
0:37:02 > 0:37:05to enhance crop productivity.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09Today, this genetic modification of plants
0:37:09 > 0:37:11has raised a passionate ethical debate...
0:37:13 > 0:37:15..and I wondered whether,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17in an age ruled by such profound religious beliefs,
0:37:17 > 0:37:22the work of 17th century botanists was greeted with similar scepticism.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25So, tell me what we've got here.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29It's a book herbarium, and it dates from about 1680.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32So, it's over 300 years old.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36Stephen Harris is the Druce Curator of the Oxford University Herbaria,
0:37:36 > 0:37:39and it still houses some of the first collections
0:37:39 > 0:37:42and studies of plants in this country.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46What you have here, then, is a whole series of dried plants.
0:37:46 > 0:37:52The interesting thing is that they have been carefully collected,
0:37:52 > 0:37:57- carefully, beautifully, preserved...- Yep.- ..and recorded,
0:37:57 > 0:38:04and an attempt to organise and understand their interrelationship.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Not only necessary preserving stuff in the form that we have here
0:38:07 > 0:38:09in terms of these dried plants,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13but also in terms of being able to grow things -
0:38:13 > 0:38:16how do plants respond to the environment?
0:38:16 > 0:38:19People were starting to ask explicit questions -
0:38:19 > 0:38:22and, more importantly, they were actually manipulating things,
0:38:22 > 0:38:23they were changing things.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26They were essentially doing experiments.
0:38:26 > 0:38:32Research into the behaviour of plants had, by the 1720s,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35led to the crossbreeding of different species,
0:38:35 > 0:38:39and this was a pivotal moment in the story of our gardens.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44This is a specimen of a plant called a Fairchild's Mule,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48and it is, in fact, the first artificial hybrid -
0:38:48 > 0:38:50it was created by a chap called Thomas Fairchild,
0:38:50 > 0:38:51he was a nurseryman in Hoxton,
0:38:51 > 0:38:56and it's a hybrid between a carnation and a sweet William.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59And what was the reaction to Fairchild's Mule?
0:38:59 > 0:39:03People started to get a bit queasy
0:39:03 > 0:39:06about what the implications of this might be.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10If you can create something else out of two different species,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13then where does that place your ideas
0:39:13 > 0:39:19that species were somehow God-given, that they were fixed?
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Mirrors, in some ways,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24the sort of GM debates we're having now.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26Yes, I think these sorts of discussions,
0:39:26 > 0:39:29where you get these fundamental changes, perhaps,
0:39:29 > 0:39:33in ideas and in beliefs about, if you like,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37the roles of genes and genetics in our general lives,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39would have been very similar.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48Despite the growing band of scientists and intellectuals
0:39:48 > 0:39:51finding a new language to talk about plants,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54by the late 1600s, gardens in this country
0:39:54 > 0:39:58had yet to express our own national culture and identity.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Under Charles II, we had followed the fashions of the French,
0:40:05 > 0:40:07like at Ham House -
0:40:07 > 0:40:10but his death and the subsequent overthrow in 1688
0:40:10 > 0:40:12of his Catholic brother James
0:40:12 > 0:40:16had ushered in a new era of garden design.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20I've returned to Hampton Court, where this latest style arrived
0:40:20 > 0:40:23with a new protestant monarchy from Holland -
0:40:23 > 0:40:26Charles II's niece Mary and her Dutch husband William.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32William and Mary brought with them a completely different culture.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Mary, for example, brought marvellous pottery,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38there was a new gardening culture,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40and they came to Hampton Court
0:40:40 > 0:40:43and really adopted it as their favoured palace.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49Together, the new king and queen set about transforming
0:40:49 > 0:40:54the old Tudor palace to their own Dutch tastes -
0:40:54 > 0:40:58but, just six years into their joint reign, Mary died,
0:40:58 > 0:41:02and it was left to the grief-stricken William to complete the task.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06I've been given permission to go up on the rooftops
0:41:06 > 0:41:07to look at the result.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14Up on the leads.
0:41:28 > 0:41:29That's fantastic.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33Incredible to see it from up here,
0:41:33 > 0:41:35on a beautiful clear day.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45And what it brings home is the particular Dutchness of it.
0:41:45 > 0:41:51If you think that the great enemy was Louis XIV in France,
0:41:51 > 0:41:56and Louis had Versailles - Versailles which, by the 1690s,
0:41:56 > 0:42:01was the great wonder of Europe, this vast garden and court
0:42:01 > 0:42:05which stretched out literally as far as the eye could see -
0:42:05 > 0:42:09and it set the tone for all aspirational gardens.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13But what William brought was a completely different sensibility.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Whereas Versailles looked out,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18with its great avenues and domination,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21there was something inward-looking about Dutch gardens,
0:42:21 > 0:42:26something contained and precise, almost finicky,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29and, of course, in many ways, that appealed more
0:42:29 > 0:42:33to the British sensibility with its enclosed gardens
0:42:33 > 0:42:35than it did the French,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39and immediately it was taken up by the British.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50Through a combination of meticulous historical research
0:42:50 > 0:42:53and the forensic examination of old planting holes,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56William's privy garden, as it was known,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59was accurately restored in 1995.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Now, the whole point about the privy garden
0:43:03 > 0:43:07was that access to the King was a series of stages,
0:43:07 > 0:43:11and in the palace itself you went through reception rooms
0:43:11 > 0:43:15that got smaller and smaller until you reached the royal closet,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18where the King could speak to people one-to-one,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21or just two or three people, and so it was with the garden.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24You were only allowed in here by invitation.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27The court couldn't mill around.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30So, this was personal, and it was private -
0:43:30 > 0:43:32but he is a king.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34It wasn't as though he was out here weeding.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36This was magnificent,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39and intended to be so from the outset.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43To the modern eye, it's a magnificence
0:43:43 > 0:43:45that's slightly hard to read.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48There seems to be too much space between the plants...
0:43:51 > 0:43:53..and the topiary, the one abiding garden feature
0:43:53 > 0:43:56that William and Mary brought with them from Holland,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59are all tiny compared to the large gothic creations
0:43:59 > 0:44:01that we have become accustomed to.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07I'm intrigued to know how the estates and gardens manager Graham Dillamore
0:44:07 > 0:44:10keeps them so small and tight.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12I mean, I grow some topiary,
0:44:12 > 0:44:15and I know that although they are only about 20 years old,
0:44:15 > 0:44:18- however tightly you clip them, they just get steadily bigger.- Yeah.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20- It's this weird thing! - They do, don't they? Yeah.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23Trying to get out, and trying to break free from the shape.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25Well, it wants to be a tree, doesn't it?
0:44:25 > 0:44:26It wants to be a tree, yeah.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28How do you get them to be as tight as this?
0:44:28 > 0:44:32Real control over nature, and it begins at a very early stage
0:44:32 > 0:44:34when you get the plant very, very young.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37You have to keep clipping it, keep controlling it,
0:44:37 > 0:44:42and eventually it just firms up - it just stays within its framework.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44And in the 17th century...
0:44:44 > 0:44:47they'd worked this out, hadn't they? They'd cracked that.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51Yeah, they'd mastered it. It's about quality over quantity.
0:44:51 > 0:44:56The quality of the topiary was really, really important to them
0:44:56 > 0:44:58and they'd rather see a very good specimen -
0:44:58 > 0:45:01- you know, modest in size, to be honest with you...- Yeah.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03..but of absolute pure quality.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06And did that apply to just yew and box,
0:45:06 > 0:45:08or were they topiarising lots of things?
0:45:08 > 0:45:12Well, it was that era where the control over nature,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15as I said earlier, was absolutely king,
0:45:15 > 0:45:19and wherever possible, they could exercise their power over nature
0:45:19 > 0:45:20by clipping everything.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23So we find in the privy garden, for example,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25they would have clipped hollies, they would have clipped the roses,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28the honeysuckles, the lavenders, the philadelphus -
0:45:28 > 0:45:30- all would have been clipped to shape...- Right.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33..just to give that example of, "I'm the King
0:45:33 > 0:45:36"and I can make plants grow to whatever shape I like."
0:45:43 > 0:45:47At exactly the same time as William's privy garden was being made,
0:45:47 > 0:45:50our sole survivor from the 17th century, Levens Hall,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52was also being planted -
0:45:52 > 0:45:55and all the evidence from Hampton Court would suggest
0:45:55 > 0:45:58that its famous, monumental topiary
0:45:58 > 0:46:01would originally have been just as small.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05Now, Levens has long since matured and evolved,
0:46:05 > 0:46:09but I wanted to know if there were any contemporary records
0:46:09 > 0:46:12of what was being planted here at the end of this century
0:46:12 > 0:46:15that had witnessed so many discoveries and advancements
0:46:15 > 0:46:17in gardening.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19Certainly, for the look of the garden,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22we can go back through photographs of 100 years,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25- paintings probably for another 100 years before that.- Yeah.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29But amazingly, here at Levens, we've still got all the records -
0:46:29 > 0:46:31the letters, bills, receipts -
0:46:31 > 0:46:34all the paperwork relating to the whole setting out of this garden
0:46:34 > 0:46:36back in the 1690s.
0:46:36 > 0:46:41Chris Crowder is only the tenth head gardener to have worked at Levens
0:46:41 > 0:46:43since his predecessor Monsieur Beaumont
0:46:43 > 0:46:45created the garden in the 1690s.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53He's taking me behind the scenes
0:46:53 > 0:46:56to a fascinating treasure trove of records
0:46:56 > 0:46:58from the garden's long history.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01Everything that's gone on at Levens for centuries...
0:47:01 > 0:47:04- It's all here. - ..is all stored in these boxes.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11A pound and a half of onion seed, 2oz of radish,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14lettuce seed, two quarts of French bean.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16All this - the evidence is here.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20So we know exactly what he sowed?
0:47:20 > 0:47:23The sort of things he was ordering at that time,
0:47:23 > 0:47:25the sort of things that were being received.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29A thousand tulip roots, 200 double jonquil...
0:47:30 > 0:47:32..200 ranunculus...
0:47:33 > 0:47:35They're fairly substantial numbers.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38You know that 50 years earlier,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41tulips were going for vast sums of money,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44and that they were really precious.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46The concept of a border, as we know it,
0:47:46 > 0:47:47didn't really exist, did it?
0:47:47 > 0:47:49No, perhaps not the way we fill them -
0:47:49 > 0:47:52- but that's the difference between now and then, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54Back in the 1600s, we're looking at individual plants.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56- Yeah.- If you see old illustrations,
0:47:56 > 0:47:58there would have been a plant and a lot of bare soil,
0:47:58 > 0:48:00and they would've focused in.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02Which is why I look at a thousand tulip roots,
0:48:02 > 0:48:04and I'm thinking, "That's interesting,
0:48:04 > 0:48:08"maybe the world is changing." Were they beginning to mass plant?
0:48:08 > 0:48:11- It's possible, the very late 1600s...- Yeah.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14..it might have been the cusp of that new era.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17- So, it was a period of revolution, really.- Mm.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21It's a very fascinating moment to see a garden being developed -
0:48:21 > 0:48:23and it's all here.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25As Autumn comes round,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28so, too, does the annual ritual
0:48:28 > 0:48:31of cutting the famous hedges and topiary.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37Today, the gardeners use hydraulic lifts and the latest power tools,
0:48:37 > 0:48:41but I'd like to know how a task like this would have been achieved
0:48:41 > 0:48:43in the 17th century,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45so I'm on my way to visit a blacksmith
0:48:45 > 0:48:48to help make a pair of period shears.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53I want to get the feel of what it was like
0:48:53 > 0:48:55to look after these gardens.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58I'm a practical man, I'm a gardener.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02So, I know, when I've made them, that if I use them,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05it will replicate exactly the experience
0:49:05 > 0:49:10of the 17th century gardener making their controlled world.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23Hello, I'm, Monty. It's nice to meet you.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26There we go.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Long before the advent of mass production,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32tool-making was a bespoke craft
0:49:32 > 0:49:34where the relationship between a professional gardener
0:49:34 > 0:49:38and a blacksmith like John Beavis was absolutely vital.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42What I've got here is a billet prepared ready,
0:49:42 > 0:49:44and once it reaches temperature, out onto the anvil,
0:49:44 > 0:49:46quickly bang it together.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52And we're almost there, actually, Monty.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54Coming out.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01What we want to do is to create the top end of the blade,
0:50:01 > 0:50:05working back, and then form the cutting bevel.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08The billet is made up of a strip of wrought iron and steel
0:50:08 > 0:50:10fire-welded together,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14which John then slowly hammers into the shape of the blade.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16- This is folding a bit, isn't it? - That's right.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19So it's correcting...
0:50:19 > 0:50:21what you're doing.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26Shaping the blade is a laborious as well as skilled process.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28Once completed, we're ready to start the handle.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Right, confident to have a go, then?
0:50:34 > 0:50:35No, but I will.
0:50:36 > 0:50:38- Take hold of the tongs...- Yeah.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40..and I'll tell you when.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45- Which way up have we got to go? - We've got to go...- That way? OK.
0:50:45 > 0:50:46On the side of the anvil.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48Right, there we are, so we're there.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50- And...- Then just... That's right.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54Work your way up to the end of the blade.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59Turn it over...
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Lovely
0:51:04 > 0:51:06- Are we there?- Yes, we're there.
0:51:06 > 0:51:07We'll have him back in the fire.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14Right, we're almost ready.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16OK, I'm going to keep out of your way.
0:51:16 > 0:51:17- Set him down.- Right.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19Quite a difficult process.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21We need to get it on the side of the anvil,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24hammer half on, half off...
0:51:24 > 0:51:26and hammer it down,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29and then bring him up and take him through.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36So, the side of the anvil...
0:51:37 > 0:51:40- Has created that step. - I'm with you.- Yeah.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49- Prepare yourself, Monty. - All right, OK.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51- Your turn to have a go.- Right-oh.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53Vicelike grip.
0:51:53 > 0:51:54Fine.
0:51:59 > 0:52:00Ooh!
0:52:00 > 0:52:02There he went - you were right!
0:52:02 > 0:52:04- Vicelike grip.- Vicelike grip, OK.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Let's pick him up.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08TONGS CLACK Whoops, quite tricky.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14Right, let's put him back down...
0:52:16 > 0:52:18..and it was on an end-to-end like that...
0:52:20 > 0:52:21OK.
0:52:26 > 0:52:27No, he went again.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29Well... So, what was I doing wrong?
0:52:29 > 0:52:31Just simply not holding it hard enough?
0:52:31 > 0:52:34- Simply not holding it hard enough. - That's a bit humiliating!
0:52:34 > 0:52:35HE LAUGHS
0:52:37 > 0:52:41Real craftsmanship based on years of skilled practice
0:52:41 > 0:52:43is needed to make a tool like this,
0:52:43 > 0:52:45so I'll leave John to finish making
0:52:45 > 0:52:48the shears' characteristic curved handle.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54There, and you simply scroll tongs in...
0:52:54 > 0:52:56and take him around...
0:52:58 > 0:53:02..and then square him up on the side of the anvil.
0:53:04 > 0:53:05And that's him basically done.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07Let's burn him on.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10So, the handle is here with a hole drilled in it.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14Yep, and all we need to do is push him on...
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Whoa, look at that!
0:53:20 > 0:53:23- Look at that.- ..and he's there.
0:53:23 > 0:53:24Right
0:53:26 > 0:53:30Here we go, then, Monty - cleaned, finished...
0:53:30 > 0:53:32handles on.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34All we need to do now is put them together,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37set them, and see if they work.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39- Now, this you've made?- Yep.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42A wing nut, which we forged, as well.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44Threaded on...
0:53:47 > 0:53:50..and when you pull them apart, you should hear it...
0:53:50 > 0:53:52SHEARS SNIP
0:53:52 > 0:53:53And there's the picture.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56- Clearly the same.- That's right.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59If you had a pair of these and you found that picture,
0:53:59 > 0:54:01you'd say, "They're my shears!"
0:54:01 > 0:54:04They're incredibly beautiful,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06and it's obviously a privilege to watch them being made
0:54:06 > 0:54:10and see craftsmanship at work -
0:54:10 > 0:54:12but the truth is, beauty won't earn their keep.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14That's right.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16- They've got to be useful. - They've got to be practical.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18Yeah, they've got to do a job,
0:54:18 > 0:54:23so I'm now going to take these to the oldest surviving garden in England
0:54:23 > 0:54:26with an enormous amount of topiary to cut,
0:54:26 > 0:54:27and I'm going to try them out.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56When you think this is a 1640-odd design...
0:54:56 > 0:54:58There you are, look, it's working.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00They're functioning, aren't they?
0:55:00 > 0:55:02- Well, that is amazing...- A bit.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05I've never realised that-that - there's not much difference.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07- No.- Technology hasn't progressed THAT far.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10- That's got a better edge on it, but it cuts...- Yeah.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14So, there's no question that they could have done your job
0:55:14 > 0:55:15- with these tools.- Mm.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18Not as efficiently, but they could have done.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24Do you cut this with hand shears at all?
0:55:24 > 0:55:26I have cut a lot of the pieces with hand shears -
0:55:26 > 0:55:28the bigger they get, the higher they get,
0:55:28 > 0:55:31the more I slip into the electric and the petrol stuff.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35I would say 90% of the things in the garden are cut mechanically now -
0:55:35 > 0:55:37but it's a great joy to do it by hand.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39- You get a feel for it, don't you? - You do -
0:55:39 > 0:55:43and do you think that the technology, shears, for example,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45affected the shapes?
0:55:45 > 0:55:46Almost certainly, yeah.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49There's certainly a different style of clipping
0:55:49 > 0:55:52when you get on to the straight-edged mechanical shears.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55- You're making much smoother, flatter edges more easily.- Yeah.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57So they would have had more curves, more balls...
0:55:57 > 0:55:59- I would think they would have been more rounded.- Right.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01Everything would have been more rounded.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04And do you feel bound or even inhibited
0:56:04 > 0:56:08by the fact that these are 17th century pieces of topiary,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11and somehow you need to preserve that heritage?
0:56:11 > 0:56:14I would say probably not.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16I love and respect these old pieces -
0:56:16 > 0:56:18they may be from the 17th century,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22but actually it's us that remake them and reshape them every year,
0:56:22 > 0:56:26so, it's our little edge to them that's important every season.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30So, in 1690-something these were 17th century pieces,
0:56:30 > 0:56:33and then in the 18th century they became 18th century topiary,
0:56:33 > 0:56:36and 19th and 20th - and now they are 21st century topiary
0:56:36 > 0:56:39living and alive in the present.
0:56:39 > 0:56:40They are.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43I don't think any generation should be completely tied and trapped
0:56:43 > 0:56:45by the views of the previous one.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51What I've learnt on my journey through the 17th century
0:56:51 > 0:56:54is just how powerful a statement gardens could be.
0:56:55 > 0:57:00They weren't just a space to entertain or while away the hours.
0:57:01 > 0:57:06Gardens defined who you were and what you stood for -
0:57:06 > 0:57:08whether it was your faith,
0:57:08 > 0:57:10your understanding of science,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13or your wealth and status in society.
0:57:14 > 0:57:20And whilst our only surviving 17th century garden, Levens Hall,
0:57:20 > 0:57:24took the fashions and trends of that century for inspiration,
0:57:24 > 0:57:29it also looked forward, with a revolutionary new idea.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36One of the ironies of this garden
0:57:36 > 0:57:40is that the very first thing that Monsieur Beaumont did
0:57:40 > 0:57:45was quite unlike anything else that had been done in the 17th century,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48and that was to build a ha-ha.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52This was the first ha-ha ever known in this country -
0:57:52 > 0:57:55and the point of it is, you have a wall
0:57:55 > 0:57:58which keeps out the cattle and the sheep in the park,
0:57:58 > 0:58:00but no barrier to the eye,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03so, from the garden, you look out
0:58:03 > 0:58:08and include the countryside as part of your gardening view.
0:58:08 > 0:58:13Now this - not the topiary, not the bowling green,
0:58:13 > 0:58:15no other feature -
0:58:15 > 0:58:22it was this that was to revolutionise gardening in the next century...
0:58:22 > 0:58:25but that...is another story.