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Hidden Treasures of the National Trust - Season 4 Episode 6 - Top Secret Seedlings
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00:02Every year, millions of us flock to the houses and gardens of the National Trust.
00:09Taking a step back in time to delve into our history.
00:14When you see something forgotten for thousands of years, that's quite amazing.
00:19Whether in the grandest residence...
00:21This is the kind of room you walk into and you sort of go, oh my goodness.
00:25Or on a windswept island...
00:28Big moment for this little guy.
00:30That's what you want to see.
00:32But out of sight is a hidden world.
00:35Very few people, this whole world can go behind the scenes and you're one of them.
00:40Where an army of dedicated experts...
00:42I have never seen anything like this. It's absolutely bonkers.
00:46...are battling to save treasured objects.
00:49I've not yet smushed anything. Don't do that.
00:52Am I going to have to be here all day like this?
00:54Meow.
00:56Making new discoveries...
00:58How exciting. Look at that.
01:00Oh my goodness.
01:02...that tell the history of us all.
01:05These objects still speak if you listen hard enough.
01:14This time, the homes of two pioneering British designers.
01:19It's wonderful craftsmanship. Just exquisite.
01:23A mysterious portrait takes centre stage.
01:26She does look astonishing right now.
01:27She does, doesn't she?
01:28Absolutely beautiful.
01:29And a lost garden bursts into bloom.
01:32It's really amazing what you've done here.
01:35I'm just following instructions from beyond the grave.
01:43Overlooking the Sussex Weald sits a half-ruined manor house called Nyman's.
01:54Something's wrong with the tractor.
01:57It keeps cutting out on me.
02:00These ghostly remains are surrounded by one of the most important gardens in the National Trust.
02:07Filled with a famous collection of rare plants from all corners of the globe.
02:12Right, let's try that.
02:18Right, I guess we're carrying the plants around about reverse.
02:24Putting his best foot forward is head gardener, Joe, who's worked at Nyman's for the past 11 years.
02:31We're just going to do a little bit of a walk around, get some flowers for the house, but then
02:36it's one of those things every now and then I try and make a habit of just getting around to
02:41every area of the garden just to do a quick sort of check on, well, how everything is.
02:47For over a century, Nyman's was home to the Messel family, German-Jewish emigres who settled here in the 19th
02:55century.
02:55The first donor at Nyman's was Ludwig Messel and Ludwig was responsible really for, I guess, setting out the structure
03:04of the garden and actually in the time since then the main bones and structure of the garden hasn't really
03:10changed.
03:12There's always a display of flowers in the house and that's going back to the Messel's time.
03:18This is a really important Illyria, Illyria Coomber is pink, named after Harold Coomber. His dad, James Coomber, would have
03:27been head gardener here for, I think, 50 plus years.
03:30Would you like to have a plant named after you?
03:32Well, it's not classy to name it after yourself, you see. Someone else has to name it for you, so,
03:37yeah, yeah. It might be nice at some stage. I don't know what I'd call it. Joe's Irish Musk, maybe.
03:44This is the main entrance for visitors. Lovely big old door.
03:53OK, that wasn't precedented. There we go.
03:59In 1947, a fire ripped through Nyman's, destroying everything apart from the West Wing. Caring for these last remaining rooms
04:09today is collections assistant Louise.
04:12I started working at Nyman's just over nine years ago now. I'm always interested in National Trust properties and always
04:20visited them.
04:21I think it's because I'm a nosy person by nature. I want to know what's going on in the background.
04:26I love this door. This is great.
04:29I consider myself a door whisperer to get through all of these.
04:33Oh, it wasn't that creaky. There we go. OK.
04:36It felt like a family house.
04:39In fact, it doesn't look like it's got a roof and then you go in and it's actually a home.
04:44I could still imagine people living there.
04:47But in this family home, nothing is quite as it seems.
04:52This is set up like a sitting room.
04:54A lovely cup of tea, although...
04:55Oh, no, OK.
04:57We are quite good on our stage foods.
05:00I think we've got a G&T somewhere as well, if that's more your taste.
05:04I think Oliver Messel would have loved anything like that because it's a proper set.
05:09Oliver Messel, one of the last generation of Messels to live at Neumann's, was one of the leading British theatre
05:16designers of the 20th century.
05:19He was growing up in this very artistic world, in this very beautiful place.
05:24His parents were friends with all sorts of creative people from the theatre and artists.
05:28So perhaps it's not surprising that he turned his attentions in his career towards artistry and creativity.
05:36From the 1920s onwards, Oliver breathed new life into the London theatre scene with a romantic escapist style.
05:46In the Victorian period, you've got quite heavy historical creations on the stage.
05:52And his creations are much lighter, much fresher.
05:56It really brings a new aesthetic to the theatre, full of pastiche and imitation.
06:01It's quite camp.
06:03One of my favourite quotes of Oliver's is he says,
06:06I attempted to use every device to make as much magic as possible.
06:11Over more than three decades, he designed hundreds of sets and costumes for opera, plays, ballet and film,
06:19from the West End and Covent Garden to Glyndebourne and Hollywood.
06:25Oliver Messel was really quite radical at the time.
06:27A measure of Oliver's success is that people would go to the theatre to not just see the actors performing,
06:32but to see the sets by Oliver Messel, and he was up there on the billing as the designer.
06:42To celebrate his illustrious career, the team at Nyman's are staging a brand new retrospective of his work.
06:50It takes so much organising.
06:53We've been talking about it for such a long time, about what we're going to put in it and how
06:57we can present it.
06:58It's a really big deal for Nyman's.
07:01Stage sets, props and artworks from archives across the country are arriving at the Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio in
07:10Kent,
07:11where a crack team of National Trust conservators are readying them for their return to the limelight.
07:17We have paper conservators, we have objects conservators, decorative surface conservators, paintings conservators, frames conservators.
07:24We have a lot of different eyes on these different types of objects.
07:27It's a really, really exciting part of the job.
07:30But the star of the show is a recent addition to the collection, never before seen in public,
07:37that tells a more personal story of the successful stage designer.
07:42Curators Caroline and Richard have come to see it for the first time.
07:47Hi, Anna.
07:47Wow, look at it.
07:52I mean, it's amazing to see this finally.
07:54I was involved in the acquisition, but I haven't actually seen the painting in the flesh.
07:58This portrait of Anne Messel, Oliver's sister, was painted by him in 1932, when she was 30 years old.
08:08I think it's a really lovely painting because you see Oliver's sister through his eyes.
08:13It looks a bit like Anne is sort of floating on these crashing Rococo waves, but actually it's just his
08:19big sister dressing up.
08:20I think it's clear that Oliver and Anne had a very close relationship.
08:24They were just two years apart in age.
08:26And, you know, they grew up at Niemann's together and stayed close all through their lives.
08:32You know, I think that he was writing to her just about every day.
08:36But there's nothing every day about Anne's portrait, although little is known about the story behind it.
08:43She's wearing this fabulous costume, this French-style, baroque, 18th-century look with a blue wig.
08:52It would be fascinating to understand in more detail how this painting was made, whether Oliver painted it from life
09:00or from photos, and why Oliver depicts Anne in this way.
09:05Before Anne can reveal her secrets, there's a more pressing problem.
09:10She may be young and dressed to impress, but her portrait is showing signs of age.
09:16This painting is not varnished, so it doesn't have a varnish coating that would discolour with age.
09:23But that means that there's also no varnish layer to protect the paint.
09:27So all of that surface dirt that's accumulated over time is sitting on the original paint.
09:32This might be the first time it's actually being conserved.
09:37After 90 years of accumulated dirt, the painting needs a good clean.
09:46So I'm just very gently cleaning the surface with these cosmetic sponges.
09:52And it's just to pick up the little bits of dust and ingrained dirt from the surface.
09:57We have a little bit of friable paint flaking.
10:01So one of the challenges is removing that surface dust without affecting the paint layer underneath.
10:08I'm constantly checking my sponge just to make sure there isn't any colour being picked up, but just the grey
10:16dirt on the surface.
10:18I think it's a really wonderful painting.
10:20It feels like it's made by an artist who's really enjoying what they're doing.
10:26There is a kind of closeness that you see in the painting between the sitter and the artist.
10:31You can sort of tell that they were very close.
10:34It's just a really exciting surface to be looking at.
10:36You see these pencil or charcoal lines appear and then disappear again behind layers of paint.
10:41And you sort of feel like you're there witnessing the process of Mesel creating this painting.
10:50I'm deliberately avoiding the areas that have this charcoal line.
10:54Because, I mean, charcoal is much more friable and it can really be picked up by something like a sponge.
11:03Here we can just see the dirt that's been picked up from the surface.
11:06It's nice to see that the painting is becoming cleaner and certainly in need of a clean.
11:12Anne may be looking brighter, but there's still the problem of the portrait's flaking paintwork.
11:18And her starring role in the exhibition of Oliver Mesel's work is fast approaching.
11:28In the Surrey countryside lies the home of another designer with a unique style and a healthy disregard for the
11:36rule book.
11:38Munstead Wood, boasting one of the most significant gardens in 20th century horticulture.
11:47Well, every morning the birds get fed until rather part and parcel of their week.
11:55Today, the flora and fauna are kept in line by head gardener Annabelle.
12:01We do not have pink foxgloves here and if there does happen to be one, it has to get removed.
12:09You need to be one step ahead.
12:11In fact, I always liken the garden to that circus trick with a chap running around spinning plates on poles.
12:24From 1897, Munstead Wood was the home and workplace of famed garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, who transformed the face of
12:34British gardens in the early 20th century.
12:37The garden at Munstead Wood is very significant in terms of the way we garden today.
12:43I think a lot of people probably don't even realise that they can trace the way they garden back to
12:47Gertrude Jekyll because it's just become embedded in the way we plant, the way we combine our plants, the different
12:53colour combinations.
12:53You know, she is, you know, in a sense a national treasure and that she has become part of British
12:59horticulture.
13:00The seeds of Jekyll's horticultural revolution were sown here at Munstead Wood, but most of the original planting is long
13:08gone.
13:09In 2023, the National Trust acquired the house and grounds, taking on the mammoth task, begun by more recent owners,
13:18of restoring the gardens to their former glory.
13:21We need to have a big splash of yellow here.
13:25Sure. Okay.
13:26So those need to go in the front there.
13:29Jekyll designed over 300 gardens across the UK and abroad, from large estates like Hestercombe in Somerset to more modest
13:39gardens in the growing commuter belt.
13:42No sort of straight lines, just sort of higgled in.
13:46Yeah, sure thing.
13:48Ditching the Victorian fashion for formal planting, she pioneered a style that evoked the cottage gardens of rural England.
13:59This over here needs to come out.
14:05Wrong plant in the wrong place.
14:07But while these tumbling flowers may look like they've been left to grow as nature intended, appearances can be deceptive.
14:18This is a border plan of the main border here, and this is a bit of a Bible and a
14:25key to the planting here at Munstead Wood.
14:31You've got to be quite ruthless with plants as well, because something might have seeded itself and grown quite happily
14:37here.
14:38But you've got to remove it because it's not on the plan.
14:42I'm just following instructions from beyond the grave, so I am a bit ruthless.
14:52Gertrude Jekyll's single-minded dedication to the garden and her business left no time for distractions like a husband.
15:01Jekyll was known as the mother of English gardening, and I think she was very no-nonsense, I think.
15:08We were rather formidable, and she didn't tolerate fools.
15:12And the older I get, I feel I'm rather becoming like that myself.
15:22But there were certain residents who could do no wrong.
15:28Munstead Wood did love cats, and so when her head gardener said that there was a yew hedge in the
15:33garden beginning to look a bit feline,
15:35she accepted it being cut into the shape of a cat.
15:42Jekyll's topiary cat first took shape around 1920.
15:47But this feline has now gone feral,
15:50and today the team are attempting to bring him back under control.
15:55There it is, looking at you.
15:57More like a snail now, isn't it?
16:00What are you going to do to me?
16:08Topiary expert Darren has been handed the shears.
16:12Is it meant to be facing this way?
16:14Yeah.
16:15And one of the few photos of Jekyll's original.
16:20Oh, yes, I see what you mean.
16:21Yeah, I think so.
16:23To restore this king of the jungle to his throne.
16:27Meow!
16:27Meow!
16:30Can somebody hold that for me about there and we'll just have a quick look?
16:33Sorry, I'm not the shortest.
16:34Get the shortest person.
16:36I can hold that if you want.
16:37Just have a quick look out. I think that's probably the top.
16:41Am I going to have to be here all day like this?
16:45Feeling the pressure, Darren needs to come up with a plan.
16:49I think there's an ear here.
16:51Yeah.
16:52Another ear about here somewhere.
16:55It's definitely about five foot higher than it should be.
17:00Gosh!
17:00There's no point fiddling around, so we're going to go make some drastic cuts.
17:05It's going to be rather painful to watch, actually.
17:09Oh, God.
17:11Under the watchful eye of Annabelle and the team, Darren dives in, knowing any mistake could really put the cat
17:20amongst the pigeons.
17:24Very little remains of Jekyll's original planting, but there are some very special horticultural veterans that still burst into bloom
17:36every year.
17:43Those, of course, are what I consider the garden antiques that have survived unsympathetic owners and various world wars, so
17:52they really are quite precious.
17:55These azaleas are nearly a century and a half old, and some of the only surviving plants from Gertrude Jekyll's
18:03time.
18:07We've got this really unique collection of 247 azaleas that she planted herself, and so, yeah, we're trying to keep
18:14that collection in the best possible condition.
18:17One of the potential issues is obviously the risk of disease, which could damage or destroy the plants.
18:28To save these rare species, Claire is hoping that a groundbreaking technique called micro-propagation will create genetic copies of
18:38Jekyll's prize azaleas.
18:40We should be able to replace any that may die or look really unhealthy, or maybe we can then replant
18:47another collection somewhere else to enable to keep it going in the future.
18:51It's basically like having a backup copy of our really unique collection of plants.
19:00To work, every stage of the micro-propagation process must be followed to the letter.
19:07Today, in the depths of winter, Claire must collect just the right amount of samples needed for cultivation.
19:15We've got two types of bud here. We've got one this smaller leaf bud, and then this bigger, fatter one
19:22is a flower bud.
19:23So we'll just find about five healthy-looking samples to put in the bag.
19:34Right, 172.
19:37I think Miss Jekyll would be really interested in this whole process, and hopefully she'd be really excited to know
19:43that her plants that she so lovingly chose to go in her collection were being well cared for and looked
19:54after.
19:57Jekyll's legacy is now in the hands of these tiny flower buds.
20:08But it's not just the garden at Munsted Wood that is of international significance.
20:13At its heart sits the start of a partnership that influenced design across the world.
20:19The house, designed with architect Edwin Lutyens.
20:25Munsted Wood is that first kind of major collaboration between these two giants of the arts and crafts movement.
20:32Lutyens as architect, and Gertrude Jekyll as garden designer, and on this occasion, client.
20:39Jekyll and Lutyens met and became friends in 1889.
20:4425 years his senior, she was already an established gardener.
20:48He was an ambitious young architect.
20:52At Munsted Wood we have classic Lutyens channelling architecture that surrounded him in rural Surrey,
21:00with a dollop of medieval, and that really appealed to Gertrude Jekyll.
21:05The cottage garden queen said there was definitely a meeting of minds between the two of them.
21:13After Munsted Wood, the pair collaborated on over 70 designs across the UK and abroad.
21:22A symbol of their partnership survives inside the house.
21:26The door to Jekyll's workshop, which she designed herself and had incorporated into Lutyens architecture.
21:34Today, it's being assessed by curator Caroline and furniture conservator Dan.
21:40It's wonderful craftsmanship. It's beautiful.
21:43The intricacy of some of these inlaid areas, these bone and mother of pearl, are just exquisite.
21:50It's quite quirky. This door handle here is just very arts and crafts.
21:56This door is quite an amazing object.
21:59You know, I talk to colleagues about it and you say, oh, Jekyll, oh, she's a gardener.
22:02But actually you look at that, I mean, she's a, you know, she's quite an amazing craftswoman.
22:07But repairs are needed to bring the door back up to Jekyll's high standards.
22:12So there's a few areas of missing carving decoration here, these dental mouldings here, and there's one down the bottom
22:19there.
22:19This type of moulding is called dental moulding, because they look like teeth.
22:23And there's also a small section of bone missing here.
22:27I haven't seen anything like this. There's so much pride and joy gone into that.
22:32Obviously it's a door she used every single day and all the time, so it was her, if you like,
22:37walking into her own kingdom.
22:38And that's what's quite special about it.
22:41First, Dan needs to take a cast of an existing section of wooden moulding to recreate in his workshop.
22:49So I'm just going to use some, um, silica mould.
22:53It's actually mould that's used for making hearing aids, but it's quite quick setting, so it's very good for taking
22:59impressions.
23:04I'm just going to leave this to cure, and then it'll give us the impression of the missing sections of
23:08carving that we're going to, that we're going to re-carve in the workshop.
23:20Yeah, it's come up well. It gives all the detail that we need, um, so yeah, it's perfect.
23:31Famous for its richly planted gardens and atmospheric ruins, Neumann's, in Sussex, is one of the most popular gardens in
23:41the National Trust.
23:44When Ludwig bought the estate initially, it was very much about developing and expanding the plant collection, you know, and
23:50it was kind of a fashionable thing to do at the time.
23:52It was a competitive thing, you know, and they were trying to introduce the, the rarest plants, the most unusual
23:57plants.
23:58I like to think Oliver would probably like the garden a lot now if he was to come, you know,
24:03because it's so theatrical and bold and a little bit over the top at times, which is kind of the
24:07fun of it.
24:10Today, Oliver's sense of theatre is being brought inside the house, as his sets and props arrive for the upcoming
24:17exhibition.
24:20And there's another arrival who has a keen interest in Oliver's legacy.
24:25Ah, gosh, this looks rather nice.
24:27His nephew, Thomas.
24:29I knew him when I was a little boy, and I found him fascinating, and he was very approachable and
24:36exciting to be with.
24:38He just was so adept at doing anything, and he could make raw materials into very beautiful things.
24:45I love the romance of Oliver's designs.
24:49Everything about him was to do with romance and beauty.
24:54Oliver started his career as an artist in the 1920s, when, with his sister Anne, he was part of the
25:01glamorous, aristocratic set, The Bright Young Things.
25:05Amongst the likes of photographer Cecil Beaton and the Mitford sisters, the Messel siblings shone brightest of them all.
25:14They're revelers, they're party-goers.
25:16They're poking fun at the traditions and values of their parents' generation.
25:22And so we see them dressing up in fancy dress costumes.
25:26They're absolutely a modern phenomenon in the 20s and 30s.
25:30Are you all right with that?
25:31Yep.
25:32House manager Rebecca is meeting Thomas in the family's flat on the estate to learn more about how Oliver portrayed
25:39Anne in her 1932 portrait.
25:43What I really want to know is why Oliver painted his sister in that costume, wearing a blue wig.
25:49What's the starting point for that?
25:51Well, I can tell you a little bit about that.
25:53I have got rather a lot of photographs of Anne and Oliver together.
25:57And it might just begin to explain the story.
26:00It's a photograph by Cecil Beaton of Oliver and Anne.
26:05That's the same dress as the portrait.
26:08But this was no ordinary fancy dress party.
26:11These costumes match those of Oliver's daring production of an operetta based on La Belle Hélène, which was staged at
26:20the Adelphi Theatre in 1932.
26:22This is why she's wearing that dress.
26:25That is it.
26:26She does look astonishing in that.
26:28She does, doesn't she?
26:28Absolutely beautiful.
26:31Oliver's production of Helen took the theatre world by storm, running for nearly 200 performances.
26:37I do believe that it was painted to celebrate that highly important moment in his life when he had made
26:45it as the greatest stage designer in the world.
26:48What a lovely way to celebrate it with a portrait like that.
26:51Exactly.
26:52Fantastic.
26:55After the success of Helen, Oliver hit the big time.
26:59In the 1940s and 50s, his brand of colourful escapism was perfect for a country desperate to forget the dark
27:08days of the Second World War.
27:11As Oliver's career took off, it was also a turning point in his personal life.
27:17At the height of his fame, he met Danish couturier Van Ries Hansen.
27:23Same-sex relationships were criminalised in Britain until 1967, and so that's the backdrop for the majority of Oliver Messel's
27:32life.
27:33But Oliver and Van were able to be open about their relationship within the social circles that they moved in.
27:39I think it's really interesting to look at the artistic output of queer people as a form of self-expression.
27:46Oliver's looking at things from an unconventional angle in a different way.
27:52As the exhibition to celebrate Messel's legacy draws closer,
27:57Conservatives are working against the clock on his props, artworks and theatre sets.
28:05I am really excited about this project because not only am I working on the painting, but some of my
28:11colleagues are working on other objects by Messel, which is really exciting working side by side together on these objects.
28:18Anna has finished cleaning Anne's portrait and is turning her attention to her missing paintwork.
28:25So there are just some little losses here in the flesh tones, and these are just where the original paint
28:32has flaked off in the past.
28:34And so I'll attempt to just match the surrounding colour so that we won't be able to see those losses
28:39anymore.
28:43But colour matching is more of an art than a science.
28:48Sometimes if you feel like you get the right colour you can be on a roll, and then other days
28:53it just feels like you can't quite find the right colour and that can be frustrating.
28:57And it's not just Messel's colour Anna has to recreate, it's also his style.
29:04I have spent quite a lot of time just trying to understand the brushwork, sort of follow the artist's hand,
29:11look at how the paint plays on the surface, and I find that an incredibly enjoyable part of the work.
29:24The countdown to Oliver's exhibition is on.
29:28The National Trust Textile Conservation Studio in Norfolk has just taken delivery of some more Oliver Messel figures in need
29:37of a makeover.
29:40Definitely helps that he has a face and a very, very handsome one at that, with a nice smile and
29:45nice eyes.
29:49These papier-mâché boatmen were designed for a production of Mozart's opera Il Seraglio, staged at Glyndebourne in 1956.
29:59The opera is set in the Ottoman Empire, present-day Turkey, in the palace of a nobleman.
30:06An earlier version of the story that inspired Mozart's opera describes the boatmen as North Africans,
30:12and it's thought that for Messel's production, they're depicted as enslaved people.
30:20Oliver Messel depicts the boatmen in luxurious Oriental-style costumes,
30:26and the image of Asia, of Turkey, which Oliver Messel represents, is a European fantasy.
30:36It's based on stereotypes rather than rooted in the reality.
30:40The clothes are all made of the same fabric, which is a cotton demet.
30:45We use it for curtain interlinings and for making quilts.
30:49And what they've very cleverly done is then just painted the areas to represent other bits of clothing.
30:56So his breeches are purple, his turban is still made of the cotton demet, but painted gold.
31:02The boatmen have been packed away in storage for decades, and are understandably looking a little dishevelled.
31:10You can see the back of his coat has become a bit misaligned.
31:15So in order to get this box pleat back in place, I'm going to use an ultrasonic humidifier.
31:21It works by causing very, very quick vibrations, which then produces a cold water mist as opposed to using a
31:30steamer,
31:31because we want to eliminate the risk of any shrinkage of the fibres that the heat can do.
31:38It's really satisfying to see the textiles relax and come back to life, really.
31:45Once the fabric has softened, Anna can refold the creases in the boatman's coat.
31:50So I'm just going to use these pieces of plasters out, so I've got something to pin into.
31:59And hopefully as this dries, it will set itself in the correct position.
32:06Yeah, I think all these little details add to the charm of the object
32:10and how and why they were made in the first place.
32:13He's much more presentable with his jacket now sitting as it should.
32:19But it's not just the jacket that needs attention.
32:22The boatman is bursting out of his britches, but Anna's sewing kit isn't much help.
32:29Obviously, gluing was much quicker than stitching to get these clothes on these figures.
32:34And you can almost see the speed that they've applied it at, sort of slapping it on with the brush.
32:39We don't get to glue very often. It's quite an instant reward, really.
32:45And then I'm just going to hold that in place while it dries with a couple of pins.
32:53There, so I'm just going to leave that with those pins in for a couple of hours.
32:58And then that's that seam closed.
33:00But I know there are lots of other open seams across the figures.
33:04Every time you look, you find a new opened one.
33:07The boatman's outfit is on the way to being conserved.
33:11But time is running short.
33:14At Nyman's, the stage is being set for their return.
33:17And preparations for Oliver's exhibition are underway.
33:27At Munstead Wood in Surrey, topiary expert Darren and the garden team are working hard to get another star performer
33:36back on track.
33:38Gertrude Jekyll's topiary cat.
33:40I think when I'm going to get that ear off, this is the Van Gogh moment.
33:50At long last, you know, we're going to get back something of the original form back again.
33:56So more compact and more of a kitten than a cat.
34:00I've been gardening for about 20 years.
34:02I like the chaos that comes with working with plants.
34:05Never really know how they might react.
34:07You can have a good idea.
34:08But they can always surprise you.
34:16That's definitely starting to lift.
34:18Yeah. Cool.
34:19Cat at the back.
34:21What we've done is we've excavated what we think is the original paw here.
34:26Here, we've had a quick go on the plinth, which signals that this is a work of art today.
34:33But Darren's learning there is more than one way to skin a topiary cat.
34:38I'm going to try and make the eye.
34:43The right eye should be somewhere around here.
34:47And I'm thinking there's the arm, so the left eye should be about here.
34:50In fact, if we grab some string, let's mark them out and have a look.
34:56Let's have a look.
34:58Whoa.
35:00Awful.
35:04All right, that's your eye. Look at that.
35:06Excellent.
35:07Oh, come on.
35:08What a void.
35:09Stop your applause.
35:12It looks pretty drastic, but actually, for me, I've done worse.
35:16I've left worse in gardens, you know.
35:18We want to do it once and do it well.
35:20Get it back into the shape that we want it to be.
35:23So, although it looks awful now, we've done the hard work.
35:27As Darren lays down his strimmer, the whole team come out to give his work a final vetting.
35:34Wow, people.
35:35This is amazing.
35:38You do want to, you want to kind of give him a little hug and say,
35:41it's going to be all right, little dude.
35:43Someone to hug it.
35:45In six months' time, we might have lots of lovely new green leaf,
35:48but it's going to take a little bit of time.
35:51It's something that was so special, I think, to Miss Jekyll,
35:54that it's great that we can, we've started the job of returning it back to what she had.
36:03It may be a while before Gertrude Jekyll's cat is looking himself again.
36:09But the work to secure her legacy is far from over.
36:14Today, Claire's mission to preserve the 140-year-old azalea collection
36:19has led her to a top-secret location in the West Country.
36:24Hi, Claire. Welcome.
36:27You know we're a biosecure area here, so you need to do your feet first.
36:32Claire is delivering her precious flower buds
36:35to the National Trust Plant Conservation Centre
36:39and plant conservator, Daryl.
36:42It's one of the places you won't find in the handbook.
36:45It's an extremely biosecure unit
36:48because we really need to keep these special plants free from pests and disease
36:52so we can have succession plants.
36:54It's a safe haven and a bit of a Noah's Ark in a way.
36:58Oh, wow!
37:00That's amazing!
37:02This is where the magic happens.
37:03Wow!
37:05Jekyll's azaleas will be in good company.
37:08The Plant Conservation Centre holds cuttings of some of the most important plants in Britain.
37:14Over here is the one that everyone wants to see.
37:16Oh, yeah.
37:17These are the Sycamore Gap seedlings.
37:19Oh, that's incredible!
37:21And then just over this way, another rather inconspicuous-looking twiggy plant.
37:26This is one of the descendants from the Isaac Newstaff tree from Halls Fork Manor.
37:32Oh, wow!
37:32We hold a stock here of these.
37:34Oh, do you?
37:34Just for that sort of security, really.
37:40Today, Daryl will be carrying out the first stage of micro-propagation.
37:45And he's scrubbed up and ready.
37:48It's very different working in a sterile environment to normal propagation.
37:52Normally, we're surrounded by soil and compost and pots and everything like that.
37:57It's very much a lab situation.
37:58We're not gardening in here.
38:00We put on these coats and we become lab technicians.
38:05I'm really passionate about what I do here and what we do as a team here.
38:09It's quite a high level of responsibility.
38:11We are the last line of defence for these plants.
38:18When you're doing micro-propagation,
38:20the most success you have is working with very immature material.
38:24The cells are more likely to differentiate into another sort of tissue
38:27because, basically, we're trying to turn these, essentially, flowers into whole plants.
38:32Daryl's looking for the florets.
38:35Tiny, immature flowers nestled inside each bud.
38:39Well, you've stuck gold early here.
38:42I feel like I'm channeling my inner surgeon when I'm working on these.
38:46There is a risk of damaging the florets.
38:48You've got to be careful with these.
38:50They can be quite awkward to get out and it can be a little bit frustrating at times.
38:54You've got to really take your time and be very precise.
38:58One slip now and it's all over for this azalea's propagation prospects.
39:06Tiny little piece of plant here.
39:09Could grow into a mature shrub one day.
39:15A little piece of horticultural gold, if you will.
39:19Once he has successfully excised the golden floret, Daryl carefully transfers it into a nutrient-rich jelly to grow.
39:28So here we are. That's as much as we can do now.
39:31And the rest of it is just a waiting game, really.
39:38It will be several months before Daryl knows if the propagation has been a success.
39:44But safeguarding Gertrude Jekyll's legacy is a key part of the restoration of Munsted Wood.
39:51When the National Trust took on the house in 2023, the garden had already been partially restored.
39:58But the house itself was empty, with only a few tantalising examples of Jekyll's craft skills left behind.
40:07The house has been through various different ownerships since it left the Jekyll family.
40:12So her collection has been dispersed. The contents of the house have long gone.
40:18Alongside the conservation work, curator Caroline is keen to build up a fuller picture of the famous designer.
40:27Hello. Hello Caroline.
40:29I'm glad to see you.
40:30She's come to meet Jekyll's great niece, Primrose, at her home in Sussex,
40:35to see if she can track down more examples of Jekyll's work.
40:39So I think everyone remembers Jekyll as a gardener, don't they?
40:42From her garden writing, her reputation is passed down through her books.
40:46But I get a sense that there's a lot more to her than just the gardening.
40:50She was extraordinary, really. She had a so powerful intellect.
40:56She was very, very interesting to talk to and interested in everything.
41:02I mean, she never stopped working and making and doing.
41:06And she was trained by her father. Their hands itched to make things and do things.
41:12I'm really hoping that you can help us track down some of the objects that we know were at Munstead
41:18Wood,
41:18but have since been lost.
41:19Yes. Well, I've got one or two of them here.
41:23I mean, that would be amazing to see.
41:24There's a way you can have a look at.
41:26Right. Now, in here, you will see the blotter.
41:31Ah, I see it already.
41:33This ornate blotting book for letter writing was crafted by Jekyll in Silver Repousset,
41:40a technique where a sheet of silver is hammered from the reverse side to create patterns and textures in the
41:47metal.
41:49You see, it's got her flourishes. She's very fond of those kind of leaves scroll.
41:55Yes. It must have a name.
41:56Different sort of floral motifs. You can see her flowers coming in as well.
42:00Yes.
42:01It's very reminiscent of the inlay work, isn't it, that we have at Munstead Wood.
42:05Careful how you go.
42:08And Primrose has a very different example of Jekyll's work.
42:12She is keen for Caroline to see.
42:15All right. I'll take this in.
42:20My goodness, this is the only piece of embroidery that I've seen of Jekyll's.
42:25So well preserved.
42:27Yes.
42:27It seems very typical of what I think of now as Jekyll's work.
42:30You sort of start to get your eye in and recognise.
42:32Yes. It's the familiar flowers gathered.
42:35Yeah. So again, it's just very like the detail that we saw in the Silver Repousset blotter,
42:40that exact same basket but just done in silver.
42:43You know, it's fantastic to be able to see more examples of her work,
42:46to get an idea of her distinctive style.
42:51Working at Munstead Wood with it being a brand new acquisition for the National Trust,
42:55obviously there's a lot more scope for discovery to bring Gertrude Jekyll's story back to life.
43:00And I hope that, you know, we'll be able to do more original research at Munstead Wood that will underpin
43:06what we do as we open the house to the public.
43:11Preserving the few rare examples of Jekyll's work that remain at Munstead Wood is a priority.
43:20Today, furniture conservator Dan is in his studio working on one of the most important, her workshop door.
43:29So the mould I took at Munstead, now filled with some polyester resin, which is just hardened off now.
43:36So I'm going to take it out the mould and hopefully we'll have the profile, without air bubbles, of the
43:42missing dental.
43:44So there it is. I'm just going to colour this to make it look like wood, so I can actually
43:49get to see the contrast of the different areas of the moulding.
43:53Dan needs to replicate the specific shape or profile of the original mouldings, using a special piece of kit.
44:01So we're going to use this, it's called a router, and it basically spins round, it's like a drill, and
44:08it'll cut that groove in there.
44:10These are my router bits, and they have different profiles, so I'm going to try and find a bit that
44:15will match the profile of this top section of moulding.
44:19So that's about right, that profile there.
44:24Using the router, Dan carves a groove in the shape of the moulding.
44:33So I'm going to take this front edge off, just for the saw.
44:43And see if I've got that moulding correct.
44:48So that's good, that's good.
44:50So we've gone so far as we can with these, the rest I want to do by hand.
44:56Sharing Gertrude Jekyll's passion for handmade craft, Dan downs his power tools.
45:04Every piece is different, and when you come to restore these, you've actually got to see the hand craftsmanship and
45:11actually copy what they've done.
45:13You almost have a sense of responsibility to the craftsman who'd made these pieces.
45:17We're going to take this down the moulding plane, and this is how they would have originally done this.
45:26I love what I do. I work until all hours of the night, and then all weekends. It's great.
45:31I've got a really nice cosy workshop, and I quite like it being up there, it's quite nice.
45:38I love that handmade stuff because it's the fact that it's so intricate, and it's all done by hand.
45:43So there are floors in it, there's certain things in it, there's hand skills.
45:47You can see almost the soul of the person who's made it in the piece of furniture that you're working
45:51on.
45:53Now the new section of moulding is shaping up, it's ready to go back to Munsted Wood to be fitted
45:59into the workshop door.
46:06Over in Sussex, it's just two weeks until the opening of the Oliver Messel exhibition at Neumann's.
46:14The team are flat out as props, artworks and theatre sets arrive from conservation studios across the country.
46:23Up one, that's it.
46:24Today, one very special object is getting ready to take its place centre stage.
46:31The portrait of Oliver's sister, Anne.
46:36Bingo!
46:37It's just going to be amazing to see how the conservation is going to bring the colours back together.
46:46Alright, over to you.
46:48Oh, goodness.
46:51Isn't she gorgeous?
46:53The colours, they just sing out now, don't they?
46:56To have this painting back at Neumann's that brings both Anne and Oliver back together, I feel it's really important.
47:04And I'd like to think that they would enjoy that too.
47:07It's amazing.
47:08It is amazing.
47:09I think this is the centrepiece of the exhibition.
47:12It's the piece everybody is going to want to see.
47:17It looks wonderful.
47:18It looks as fresh as the day it was painted.
47:20It's really light.
47:22You can see the detail that Oliver intended in the painting now.
47:26And I'm delighted that visitors now get the chance to see it.
47:29And Thomas Messel, along with his cousin Rupert, have come to see the newly rejuvenated portrait of Anne.
47:44I absolutely love it.
47:47I cannot believe how the colours have really come out.
47:52I think the painting is a good reminder, not only how beautiful she was in her youth, but the love
47:58that she shared with her brother.
48:00It's done with true feeling and affection.
48:03She lived here and Oliver lived here, so to have something that is a family piece like that back in
48:09its home at Neumann's, looked after by the National Trust, is one of the things that makes this the most
48:14special story.
48:16It's a coming home, isn't it?
48:17Yes.
48:18It's a reunion of the family, and I think it makes everybody very happy.
48:28Outside in the gardens, Louise is spring cleaning another reminder of the Messel family and their life at Neumann's.
48:37We've got a lovely monument dedicated to Oliver and also his long-time partner, Von Rees Hansen.
48:45We have got a little bit of moss actually growing in the letters there.
48:50That's what I'm going to be trying to remove.
48:57By the 1960s, Oliver's flamboyant style was going out of fashion.
49:02He died in the 1970s and left instructions for his ashes to be brought back to Neumann's with Vans.
49:10Anne had them buried beneath an urn in the gardens where he'd played as a boy.
49:16I do get a bit emotional about it, sort of thinking that I hope they could be authentic and as
49:23free as they could in their relationship.
49:26That looks really good, actually.
49:28That's cleaned it up nice and crisp.
49:30Now we need to take the actual cover off, the winter cover off.
49:38There you go, guys. It looks lovely.
49:52In Surrey, furniture conservator Dan is back at Munstead Wood.
49:58Good morning.
49:59Thank you. Welcome back.
50:01To complete repairs on Gertrude Jekyll's workshop door.
50:08We always try and do all the final finishing when we're on site to match the adjacent areas.
50:16We've made this length of moulding in the workshop to match the missing sections on the door.
50:23So I'm just cutting them up to the right size and making sure they fit.
50:29Once he's glued on the new mouldings, Dan turns his attention to Jekyll's finely crafted bone inlay work.
50:40I'm just going to take a rubbing of that area where it's missing, so a bit like brass rubbing.
50:51Now we've got our rubbing of the missing sections, so we know that's the shape that's missing.
50:55So we're going to transfer that shape onto there, and then we're going to cut it out.
51:02And when it comes to materials, Dan's got a rather unexpected source.
51:08This is basically a beef bone I bought from the pet shop the other day.
51:13I didn't tell the person at the pet shop what I was going to use it for, because they think
51:16I'm mad.
51:18A beef bone's quite good at holding the veneer.
51:21It's the go-to bone, if you like, because most of them are too soft.
51:27Have you got a dog?
51:28I have two, yeah, yes.
51:31Did they get any leftovers?
51:33They didn't, no, no.
51:35Right, let's see if this fits.
51:40Pretty close.
51:42A bit of final finishing.
51:49It's lovely when it pops into place, yeah.
51:51It just goes, and it's in.
51:53And it's just like...
52:01That's in.
52:03Yes.
52:04To ensure the new piece of inlay fits the gap, Dan files it down so it sits perfectly within the
52:11wooden panel.
52:12So we're going to just redo some of the engraving.
52:18So I'm going to match kind of this here to the leafs.
52:22I'm just going to go over this with a scalpel.
52:25So it's basically digging into the, into the bone.
52:28And then we'll go over it with some black pigment.
52:34Difficult to spot them now.
52:37So yeah, that's good.
52:39You know you've done what you can to preserve this special door.
52:43Forever knowing that you've got a part of you on that door as part of its history as well.
52:49It's amazing.
53:00Down in the West Country, Munstead wood gardener Clare is back at the Trust's top secret plant conservation centre.
53:10Does it have to be done up as well?
53:12Yeah.
53:13OK.
53:14To see if Gertrude Jekyll's precious azalea buds have been growing in their agar jelly.
53:21This is the growth room.
53:23Amazing.
53:25This is very cool.
53:26If you come around here, I've got something special to show you.
53:30These are the first buds that I started doing this shape.
53:35That's amazing.
53:38That's incredible.
53:40They've got tiny little leaves.
53:41That's so cool.
53:42So are you happy with how these are looking?
53:45Yeah, we're doing really well with these actually.
53:47They've, as you can see, they've got quite a nice bit of growth.
53:50They do look like little plants now.
53:52They really do.
53:53There's quite a few nice shoots coming on here.
53:56One of the things that we do actually need to do is to transfer them into some new pots.
54:01Cool.
54:02Let's take them.
54:03Under Daryl's watchful eye, Clare takes up the tweezers.
54:08So if you want to take the lid off, carefully, and don't cough.
54:11No.
54:13Okay.
54:14All right.
54:15This is quite exciting.
54:17Okay, lid there.
54:18Yeah, that's it.
54:19You're going to need to grab that one.
54:22Yeah, nice and quickly take that one out.
54:24Take that one out and put it there.
54:25Yeah, and put the lid back on.
54:27And then see if we can break this into four or so pieces.
54:31Okay.
54:31And then just down the middle.
54:32Down the middle.
54:33And then she might not need to cut too much.
54:35They tend to sort of break away.
54:36Yeah.
54:37Lovely.
54:38Okay.
54:40After dividing up the tiny plant fragments, Clare carefully transfers them to their new pots.
54:48That feels like quite a significant moment.
54:51It was.
54:52They just symbolise, I guess, Miss Jekyll's work over, you know, the sort of 50-odd years she was at
54:57Munstead Wood
54:58and they are a plant that she really valued and loved.
55:01Thank you so much.
55:02That's all right.
55:03It's like, it's been amazing.
55:13It's the day of the Oliver Messel exhibition opening at Neumann's.
55:19A fingerprint on it would be disappointing.
55:22You can see one there, actually.
55:27It's been going so well.
55:29I mean, it's been a long, long time in the planning.
55:32Uh, it's just really nice to see it all come together, finally.
55:37The bit I'm looking forward to is when everybody comes in and actually sees it.
55:40It's, uh, just to see some people's reaction and just to, that, that's the good bit, I'm sure.
55:46Okay.
55:48After months of preparation by the house team and a host of National Trust conservators,
55:54there are naturally a few last-minute nerves.
55:57Yeah, the front forwards a little bit.
55:59Forwards, yeah.
56:00It's been stressful.
56:01There's so many delicate objects and although they've been conserved beautifully,
56:05we don't want to undo any of that work.
56:07I didn't think it would come together, but it has.
56:14It's great.
56:19We've got the family involved, the Messel family where we get at the opening.
56:23We know them pretty well by now, but you just, you just want to do so right by them
56:27and certainly right by Oliver.
56:32As they welcome an audience of curators, guests and Messel family members,
56:38the team can finally stand back and enjoy their handiwork.
56:43Oh!
56:44It's asking!
56:45I'm sorry!
56:47Oh!
56:48Oh, my gosh!
56:50Oh, my God!
56:53It's amazing!
56:55I'm so used to seeing Oliver's, like, candlesticks and some of his paintings in our store.
57:01To see them out on general display is just brilliant.
57:05People can get up close and have a look at these items.
57:09Yeah, Maureen.
57:10Maureen and Patrick Mashing.
57:12Ah, yeah.
57:13It's gone really well and everybody seemed to enjoy it.
57:17We've had so many comments.
57:19Really, really pleasing.
57:21The magic that he produces, making things out of almost nothing.
57:27And it is magic.
57:29And if what we are doing here makes people appreciate him more,
57:33then I should be very happy.
57:40Take an interactive journey with the Open University
57:43to discover how different landscapes have shaped these hidden treasures.
57:48Scan the QR code on screen or visit connect.open.ac.uk forward slash hidden treasures.
58:24Welcome to the Open Universe?
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