The Surrey Scholar stands on one toe on a slope with the cobbled High street steeply behind. A bronze reminder that we are celebrating Guildford as a hub of culture and scholarship. It marks the university’s 35th anniversary and the Golden Jubilee. Not far from here is another type of celebration with gardening boots in a glass cabinet.
‘ They say a horse does not like new shoes, I certainly don’t like new boots.’
This was said by Gertrude Jekyll the person who shaped modern garden design through her deep connection to the Surrey landscape. How did she express this connection? Through her drawings, photographs and art work as well as her designs of gardens and working in them.
Her drawings are displayed in a scrap book from 1866 to 1911. Here is one of her photographs from an album dated 1885 – 1886. Tree studies are a particular focus.
She also worked with other materials here is one of her tiles.
Her garden lay outs and choice of plants took into account painting them and her good friend painted this part of her garden. It is filled with nasturtiums, lupins, yarrow, and according to her own little book of plants those that do well in English gardens.
The Vann garden is a notable nearby Arts and Crafts garden featuring woodland plans drawn up by Jekyll in 1911 for the Caroë family. It is temporarily closed.
Gertrude Jekyll not only took an interest in trees and flowers she also arranged flowers and because she could not find the right vases created her own line.
There was also a collection of furniture which she left to the Surrey Archaelogical Society.
This post seems to have a theme difficult to ignore that of shoes/ feet while ofcourse there was much more. Here is a shoe found in the wall of a house dated 1660.
And then another found dating to 1500.
Then the painter William Nicholson in 1820 painted Gertrude Jekyll’s boots and dedicated the painting to Sir Edwin Lutyens, Jekyll’s friend and collaborator on many design projects. They say she wore these boots for over 20 years!
I will leave you with some delicate designs made by young women, they are known as samplers and are special.
Let us look more closely.
This is what the writing says:
‘Behold the Saviour of mankind
Nailed to a shameful tree how
Vast the Love that He inclined
to Bleed and die for me
How condescending and
How kind was God’s eternal
Son our misery reached his
Heavenly mind and pity.’
‘ I sigh not for beauty,
nor languish for wealth
But grant me. Kind Providence
virtue and health
The richer than Kings and more happy than them
My days shall pass sweetly and swiftly away.’
Time in the Guildford Museum. A rich experience.
Take care,
Sandy 🙂
This was right up your street Sandy. Gardening and yes Guildford is lovely.