It took more than one garden to re-create the magic of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic – make a date to visit them all
Claire Webb - 16 October 2020
The classic children’s novel The Secret Garden conjures up one of literature’s most magical gardens. Frances Hodgson Burnett ’s timeless story, published in 1911, of troubled ten-year-old orphan Mary Lennox who discovers a locked walled garden in the grounds of her uncle’s lonely manor house, has inspired half-a dozen film and TV adaptations. The latest starred Colin Firth as Mary’s uncle, Julie Walters as his housekeeper and rising star Dixie Egerickx as young Mary – but it’s the film’s fantastical garden that steals the show. The secret, however, is that it’s actually a mixture of some of the UK’s loveliest gardens…
The production designer visited more than 50 before whittling the list down to five: a bewitching wood in the Forest of Dean, a subtropical haven in Cornwall, a Yorkshire water garden, a Welsh flower tunnel and an Italianate estate in Wiltshire. When Mary first enters the garden, she finds herself in an ancient woodland with twisting trees and otherworldly rock formations. This scene was filmed at Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, where rocky paths meander through moss-blanketed gullies to hidden caves. The Secret Garden isn’t Puzzlewood’s first big-screen cameo; this mystical-looking wood has starred in films and TV shows including Star Wars: the Force Awakens, Merlin and Doctor Who.
ENTER A MAGICAL FOREST
Before she’s orphaned, Mary lives in colonial splendour with her wealthy British parents in India, and Dorset’s Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens double as her childhood garden. Thanks to the site’s microclimate, rare species from all over the world thrive around a sunken lawn within a Victorian walled garden, where golden pheasants strut around. There’s also a bronze sculpture trail that pays homage to another children’s classic, Alice in Wonderland. £7 for adults; puzzlewood.net
EXPLORE A GOLDEN ARCH
The most famous feature of north Wales’s Bodnant Garden in Conwy is a 55m-long Laburnum Arch, which has a cameo in the film, along with a flower-carpeted meadow. Planted by the garden’s founder, Henry Pochin, in 1880, the arch of trees is at its loveliest for two or three weeks in late spring, when yellow blossoms cascade from the branches, creating a curving golden tunnel. Nowadays the National Trust keeps the Laburnum Arch, elegant rose terraces, grand lawns and flamboyant rhododendrons in shape. Bodnant Estate is under lockdown restrictions, so the garden is currently open only to local residents. £8 for adults;nationaltrust.org.uk/bodnant-garden
THE VALLEY OF TOWERING FERNS
The film’s secret garden has a valley with giant tree ferns and Gunnera. It was shot in Cornwall’s subtropical Trebah Gardens, which are crammed with exotic blooms. Due to its huge leaves, the Gunnera is also known as Giant or Elephant’s Rhubarb and is a star attraction in summer, while Trebah’s two acres of hydrangeas bloom in blue and white clouds late into the autumn. In October, you can also spot dainty cyclamen, dangling apricot Grevillea, white Abelia, powder-blue Dichroa, lilac Salvia and purple Tibouchina. The four miles of paths wind down to a little private cove on the Helford river. (£11 for adults; trebahgarden.co.uk)
DISCOVER A RUINED ABBEY
The sunken temple that lies at the heart of Mary’s secret garden is actually found in the National Trust’s Fountains Abbey and Studley Water Garden near Ripon in North Yorkshire. Close by the medieval abbey’s ruins is a Georgian water garden with ponds, cascades, follies, bridges and temples. Framed by bosquet hedges and laurel banks, it’s a fine example of the informal English garden style that became fashionable in the 18th century and is now designated a World Heritage site. (£13 for adults; nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey-andstudley-royal-water-garden)
ODE TO ITALY — IN BATH
Look out in the film for the wisteria-draped colonnades of the Harold Peto garden at Iford Manor, near Bath. Peto was an Edwardian architect turned garden designer and Iford was his home for more than 30 years. With a cloister, terraces and cypresses, it’s his ode to the Italian style, adorned with statues, urns and sarcophagi that he brought back from his travels. Iford Manor is currently closed to the public, but reopens in April; ifordmanor.co.uk
The classic children’s novel The Secret Garden conjures up one of literature’s most magical gardens. Frances Hodgson Burnett ’s timeless story, published in 1911, of troubled ten-year-old orphan Mary Lennox who discovers a locked walled garden in the grounds of her uncle’s lonely manor house, has inspired half-a dozen film and TV adaptations. The latest starred Colin Firth as Mary’s uncle, Julie Walters as his housekeeper and rising star Dixie Egerickx as young Mary – but it’s the film’s fantastical garden that steals the show. The secret, however, is that it’s actually a mixture of some of the UK’s loveliest gardens…
The production designer visited more than 50 before whittling the list down to five: a bewitching wood in the Forest of Dean, a subtropical haven in Cornwall, a Yorkshire water garden, a Welsh flower tunnel and an Italianate estate in Wiltshire. When Mary first enters the garden, she finds herself in an ancient woodland with twisting trees and otherworldly rock formations. This scene was filmed at Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, where rocky paths meander through moss-blanketed gullies to hidden caves. The Secret Garden isn’t Puzzlewood’s first big-screen cameo; this mystical-looking wood has starred in films and TV shows including Star Wars: the Force Awakens, Merlin and Doctor Who.