Gardeners' Corner

Jane Austen’s gardens: A Gardeners' Corner special


Listen Later

Where did the world-famous author Jane Austen find inspiration for her classic novels? Two hundred and fifty years after her birth, Gardeners’ Corner presenter David Maxwell explores the outdoor spaces closely linked to her life and writing. In Hampshire, he visits the cottage garden at Chawton, where Jane lived with her mother and sister, and where she wrote and revised her most famous works. Now the Jane Austen House Museum, its Director Lizzie Dunford reveals how gardens and outdoor life shape Austen’s stories. The new head gardener, Michelle Hickman, shares how the garden around the house has a planting scheme Jane would have recognised, all beneath two venerable yew trees which still stand as living witnesses to her time there. Inside the house, David discovers the horticultural wallpaper that surrounded Austen as she wrote.

Nearby at Chawton House—once gifted to Jane’s brother—Molly Maslan and Julia Weaver walk him through the grand gardens where she found further inspiration. He also finds a rose bred in her honour called ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
Further north, David travels to Chatsworth in Derbyshire. This palatial home to the Dukes of Devonshire became Austen heartthrob Mr Darcy’s ‘Pemberley’ in a film adaptation of ‘Pride of Prejudice’. Librarian Fran Baker reveals that the 6th Duke was an Austen fan and collected first editions of all her works and head gardener Steve Porter takes David on a tour of the gardens designed to project power.
In all three locations the programme explores how gardens connect us to the past, and how they have been—and continue to be—a source of inspiration.
Email the programme at [email protected]

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Gardeners' CornerBy BBC Radio Ulster

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

99 ratings


More shows like Gardeners' Corner

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,913 Listeners

The Archers by BBC Radio 4

The Archers

1,086 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,067 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,576 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,808 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,729 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,952 Listeners

Desert Island Discs by BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

1,996 Listeners

Gardeners' Question Time by BBC Radio 4

Gardeners' Question Time

284 Listeners

The Food Programme by BBC Radio 4

The Food Programme

259 Listeners

Scotland Outdoors by BBC Radio Scotland

Scotland Outdoors

255 Listeners

Ramblings by BBC Radio 4

Ramblings

154 Listeners

The Plodcast by Our Media

The Plodcast

110 Listeners

Gardening with the RHS by Royal Horticultural Society

Gardening with the RHS

274 Listeners

Wild Tales | Nature Podcast by National Trust

Wild Tales | Nature Podcast

101 Listeners

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast by Sarah Wilson

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

58 Listeners

The Organic Gardening Podcast by Garden Organic

The Organic Gardening Podcast

91 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,245 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

779 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,010 Listeners

BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast by Immediate Media

BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

307 Listeners

As the Season Turns by Ffern

As the Season Turns

242 Listeners

grow, cook, eat, arrange with Sarah Raven & friends by Sarah Raven

grow, cook, eat, arrange with Sarah Raven & friends

209 Listeners

Talking Gardens by Our Media

Talking Gardens

51 Listeners

What's Up Docs? by BBC Radio 4

What's Up Docs?

105 Listeners