Gardens of delight

Literature Gardens of delight...

Part of ‘The Secret Garden’ at Great Maytham Hall

In the latest of her literature-inspired travels Lorna Hogg visits some of the locations which inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic The Secret Garden

The latest film adaption of The Secret Garden by Anglo American author Frances Hodgson Burnett, will introduce the Victorian classic to a new generation, with a new twist. This version is set in 1947, the time of Indian Independence, yet the essence is timeless. It tells the story of an orphaned little girl, moving to a new home in England, and learning, through restoring an overgrown garden, a sense of belonging and hope. However, the story of that girl, Mary Lennox, pales beside that of its author – who overcame poverty, parental and home loss, to support her family and create a full and successful life.

Frances Hodgson Burnett was born on November 24th, 1848, the third of five children, into ‘impoverished gentility’ in Manchester’s Cheetham area. Her father worked in the metal business, and Frances’s first three years were spent in some comfort. However, his death left a pregnant wife, who somehow managed to carry on the family business, and educate the children. Frances attended a dame school, and later, a ‘select seminary’. Her grandmother instilled a love of reading in her, and she also loved flowers and gardens. One of her homes overlooked small holdings owned by the Earl of Derby. Frances described the place as the ‘back garden of Eden’

Frances Hodgson Burnett: at the height of her fame, and it has been claimed she was then the highest paid woman writer in the world.

so the family emigrated there. Ironically, the young Frances was told to burn her early writings, as they left their home to move to a country in the last stages of the Civil War. They had no better luck there, at one stage living in a log cabin.

A contemporary view of Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester. Frances Hodgson Burnett was born in ‘genteel poverty’ in the area in 1848

The young Frances read in a magazine that ‘ladies’ could earn money writing, and swiftly sent off a story to a magazine, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She was first published at fifteen, and by nineteen was helping to support the family. However, tragedy again struck when her mother died in 1870. Frances then took over responsibility for the remaining family, and provided for them from her writing. She befriended Swan Burnett, whom she later married. He then qualified as a doctor, and Frances’s income allowed them the finances to travel and spend time in Europe, with their two sons, Lionel and Vivian.

Vivian’s birth brought a return to the United States, and some debt. However, Frances’s novel, That Lass o’ Lowrie’s, her first venture into fiction, proved successful. The family moved to Washington, where through hard work, she increased her popularity and fame as a writer, and even established a literary salon. On a visit to Boston, Burnett met Louise May Alcott, author of Little Women and that may have influenced her move to children’s fiction. One of her most famous creations, Little Lord Fauntleroy, was inspired by her son Vivian, and published in 1885. To economise, Frances made some of the family clothes, including velvet suits and lace collars for Vivian – it is said that she had wanted a daughter. Her young fictional hero’s royalist long curls and lace collars created a fashion. Public interest was similar to that of Harry Potter to-day, and firmly established Burnett. However, the pressure of work, plus running her household proved difficult, and depression followed.

Her marriage was affected, and Frances started to travel alone, to England and Europe, or with her sons. She also continued writing books, and started to write plays for the stage. Tragedy hit yet again in 1890, with the news that her elder son, Lionel, had died from tuberculosis in Paris. She suffered deep depression, and around this time, became a Christian Scientist. Around this time she also met a young English actor Stephen Townsend, for whom she wrote a starring role to help his career.

Her marriage gradually failed, and in 1898, she divorced Burnett. She was criticised in the press, as having ‘advanced Ideas’ and being a ‘new woman’.. This was intensified when she married Stephen Townsend, ten years her junior, in 1900. There has been considerable speculation about the relationship. He moved into her home before they married, which created a scandal, and financial motives were suggested. The couple

The Arts and Craft style Great Maytham Hall, near Rolvenden, in Kent designed by the celebrated architect Sir Edward Lutyens and thought to have been the inspirations for The Secret Garden

The ‘hot garden’ at Helmsley, Yorkshire one of the locations for the film of The Secret Garden due for release next month

divorced in 1902 – she later called the marriage ‘the biggest mistake of my life.’ By then Burnett was at the height of her fame, and it has been claimed she was the then the highest paid woman writer in the world.

In England, she had rented the beautiful Great Maytham Hall, in Kent, where she lived, entertaining many house guests, until 1907. It was here that she wrote The Secret Garden. Great Maytham had its own secret garden - Burnett managed to open the gate, and found an uncared for walled garden, which she lovingly and painstakingly restored. She wrote in the summerhouse, in the company of a tame robin, a storyline she included in the book. Its 10 year old heroine, the spoiled and ill-tempered Mary Lennox has moved to Yorkshire, after her parents death in India, to a bleak future. She discovers a locked overgrown walled garden, and tells her cousin Colin, the wheelchair -bound invalid of her own age. and this becomes symbol of hope for both. At this stage, Burnett had considerable fame and money. Her income allowed her to spend time in Europe, and winter in Bermuda, with plenty of socialising. She provided for her son, and enjoyed her success and fame. She had also earned the gratitude of writers and dramatists the world over, by taking a case against a theatrical producer who ‘pirated’ her material in a play of Little Lord Fauntleroy, using legal loopholes. When this happened again, Burnet’s response had been to re-write her own play, and put it on stage – which proved highly successful for her.

In all, she wrote fifty three novels, and her influence can be seen by the fact that inside the conservatory in New York’s Central Park, is a statue of a garden with Mary and Dickon. After her permanent return from England, in 1907, Burnett built a splendid Long Island home, with a cottage for her son. She lived there, and wintered in Bermuda, until her death on 29th October 1924.

‘As long as you have a garden, you have a future and as long as you have a future you are alive..’

A garden filled with secrets

The book’s main influence is thought to be Great Maytham Hall, near Rolvenden, in Kent. The famous architect Lutyens later re-created the walled garden – but left the summerhouse, where Burnett wrote the book. It is open a few days a year, through The National Gardens Scheme.

If Great Maytham Hall provided the physical influence, her Manchester home provided part of the psychological inspiration. ‘It was our rose garden – as it would been, locked up for years’ she wrote in one letter. Buile Hill Park, now a Manchester public park, is another possible influence, and where during visits, she wrote parts of The Secret Garden.

The new film of The Secret Garden opens in August. It was filmed in Yorkshire, with locations including Helmsley Walled Garden, Duncombe Park Manor and Allerton Castle. Scenes were also filmed at Studley Royal Water Gardens and Fountains Hall.