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British Gardens in Time

Anthony Palmer

Katie Buchanan

British Gardens in Time: Episode 4: Nymans

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Factual: Homes & Gardens: Gardens

Episode 4

Episode 4: Nymans

Nymans

BBC Four - British Gardens in Time, Nymans

Nymans was one of the most fashionable gardens of the Edwardian and interwar years.

Series exploring iconic gardens. Nymans, one of the most fashionable gardens of the Edwardian and interwar years, was created by a family of German emigres of Jewish descent.

Nymans, one of the most fashionable and romantic gardens of the Edwardian and interwar years, was the creation of a family of German emigres of Jewish descent. The Messels arrived in Britain in 1870 at a time when both anti-semitism and anti-German sentiment were rife. Nevertheless, Ludwig Messel succeeded in establishing a successful stockbroking firm and creating at Nymans the quintessential English garden with rare plants and a theatrical herbaceous border inspired by William Robinson. 

His children and grandchildren would continue to develop the garden and the family's spectacular social trajectory reached its apogee with Ludwig's great-grandson Antony Armstrong-Jones's marriage to Princess Margaret. However, Nymans was to repeatedly face disaster as a fire devastated the house leaving just a romantic ruin to dominate the garden, while the garden itself came close to total destruction in the Great Storm of 1987.

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Series uncovering the social and horticultural history of four British heritage landscapes

Series which explores four iconic British gardens, from Christopher Lloyd's Arts and Craft Great Dixter to Georgian Stowe and from Victorian Biddulph Grange to the quintessentially English Nyman's.

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