Sandra Lawrence is a journalist and writer who covers history, especially women's history and gardening. Today we talk to her about her recent book on Miss Ellen Willmott, a legendary figure of early 20the century English garden history. Sandra has had access to a remarkable archive of paper and photographs stored in the basement of the home of one of Willmott´s relatives, the kind of treasure trove of material that historians dream about. The book, which Noel describes as “quite unputdownable”, is a fascinating portrait of one of garden history's most colourful but also misrepresented characters who used her family wealth to create gardens, train gardeners and promote a huge range of plant genera. And like all good garden stories it ends with a secret garden in ruins.
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Sandra Lawrence meets the real Miss Willmott