In November 1932, Blickling Hall’s Philip Kerr, the 11th Marquis of Lothian,
commissioned society gardener, Norah Lindsay, to re-design his Parterre garden.
Two years before, Country Life Magazine had published a critical article about
Blickling’s original garden, designed in 1873, the very year that Norah Lindsay
herself was born in India.
A darling of society, Norah’s commissions ranged from the gardens of quiet
English manor houses to grand estates of the country house set, even royal
gardens in Europe.
Around this time, she gave the impression of being a social butterfly: a gadfly,
lunching and partying with the likes of Winston Churchill, David Niven and
Merle Oberon.
The Blickling Hall at which Norah began her work was undergoing a major
refurbishment. The dark, cluttered Victorian rooms were being swept away
and Lord Lothian wanted the same treatment for the outdoors. He thus
employed Norah, at her now standard £100 per year fee, to redefine the Parterre
and Terraces and to simplify the plantings in the Temple Walk. Also in her own
flamboyant style, she clipped her Yews into what became known as her
trademark ‘Welsh Hats’.
In our picture, artist Barrie Morris, captures the spirits of Norah Lindsay
and Philip Kerr as they re-visit Blickling Hall’s garden of delights that have
stood the test of time.