a recent issue of Spadework - Cardiganshire Horticultural Society

and without actually seeing it they took out a 20-year lease on the
Dower House at Morville Hall, owned by the National Trust.
Katherine described how, driving home at Christmas, she
realized that she was quite close to the Hall and still hadn’t actually
seen it in the flesh. Deciding to take a look, she parked the car. It
was a very dark night and, having no torch, she slowly walked
down the drive. When suddenly she saw the house, it was an
evocative moment. She hadn’t realized that there was a church
beside the house, and then the clock began to strike.
This was to be her home and also where she was to create her
first garden. It was a blank canvas – in fact, a 1.5-acre field which
the local farmer leveled for her. A year after taking out the lease
she planted 1,000 feet of yew hedging. These hedges are now 2.5
metres tall, giving the garden an air of mystery and surprise.
She told us how she researched the history of the Hall.
Benedictine monks lived there in 1138 and every three hours, day
and night, they stopped whatever they were doing to pray. This
gave Katherine the idea for the book, with each chapter named
after one of the Hours of the Divine Office and recounting an hour
in the life of the garden throughout the seasons. As she researched
the different historical periods of the house, from the Benedictines
through the reign of Elizabeth I, the Civil War, the Georgians and
Victorians, then up to the period just after the First World War, she
was adding new chapters to her book.
Each year new plans were made and another section of the
garden created. Then she had to source the correct plants for the
different historical periods. Fortunately the RHS Plant Finder had
just been published, which saved an enormous amount of time.
Katherine wrote and talked about her parents. Her father was a
great influence on her. He was constantly on the move in his job as
a Unitarian preacher, with numerous houses and gardens,
eventually moving to Shropshire. Katherine wove her parents’
lives into her book.
Katherine did eventually secure another 20-year lease on the
Dower House and garden, but the National Trust have said that
when she departs they may have to put a bulldozer through the
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