Hotspur, the Duchess and The Poison Garden ...

A Poison Garden here in England? Is the present Hotspur’s Duchess replicating the medieval Medici dynasty with her desire for a poison garden, as they had done in the middle ages – I do not think so ... but she has incorporated such a protected space within the Alnwick Castle Gardens development.

The unexpected death of her brother-in-law in 1995 propelled the Duchess and her husband, the Duke, to the Dukedom; they moved into Alnwick Castle, the ancestral home, and set about restoring the magnificent Italianate Renaissance interior, before the Duchess turned her attention to the gardens, that had undergone several transformations over the centuries and were in a state of decay.

Alnwick Castle by Canaletto, circa 1750

This dynamic lady did not just want any old garden for the Castle grounds but a rebirth of the estates to better serve the public, the community as well as ensuring that the Percy ancestral name would continue on with this great refurbishment of the Castle and what has become a garden of breathtaking scope.

Where will you find one of the largest tree houses in the world (see below), a rose garden with more David Austen roses than David Austen (the rose man himself), gravity defying water sculptures and - through the Duchess’s personal vision – a cherry orchard with 300 “Prunus ‘taihaku’: the single biggest planting in the world, under-planted with thousands upon thousands of pink tulips called ‘The Mistress’”?

The Garden has allowed local businesses to flourish, while the cultural and educational roles have not been ignored in this socially deprived part of England, through growing schemes, nursery garden involvement, a gardeners’ forum, while using the Poison Garden to help educate about drug abuse and addiction problems.

As the Duchess says: “With children you have to engage them, I was difficult to educate but when something grabbed my attention, I was on to it”. The poison garden is the perfect paradigm: “If you come at them from the killing angle, then you have their full attention and you can work on the dangers of cannabis, for example”.*

The Cascade Garden

This lady with a thousand ideas before breakfast, this noblewoman gardener knew that a few centuries ago men like Gerard (1545 – 1612), Parkinson (1567 – 1650) and Culpeper (1616 – 1654) having grown distrustful of magic, learnt from experience and carefully controlled dosage - that even the most poisonous of plants could be used as cures.

Some plants poisonous in root and berry, others harmless in themselves, but with rank scent, sad colour or strange form and texture to excite the imagination ... captured the Duchess’s fancy ... and the creative juices flowed .. why not have a Poison Garden?

Did you know that Henbane (Stinking Nightshade) with its clammy haired leaves transfers its nauseous smell when touched – and that it belongs to the Nightshade family .. containing the potato, tomato, tobacco – and belladonna? There is kill and cure in that small list.

Black Henbane from Kohlers' Images

She did her research going to Italy to find out more about the medieval schools of poisoning, that the Medicis and the Borgias embraced so avidly in the Middle Ages .. visiting the poison garden in Padua, originally established by the Medicis.

The Orto Botanico in Padua still has a special collection of Medicinal and Poisonous plants: plants representing the original purpose of the Botanical Garden some five hundred years ago. Alnwick’s Poison Garden also has the didactic aim of providing scientific, medicinal, educative and social knowledge on the benefits, while explaining the dangers of dependency and effects of poisoning on the body and its organs, of numerous different plants.

The Botanical Garden of Padova (or Garden of the Simples) in a 16th century print; in the background, the Basilica of Sant'Antonio.

The Duchess in her introduction to The Alnwick Garden writes “I could feel its magic and appreciate its bones”: the Castle has been in existence for over 900 years, so there are some bones, no doubt. She envisaged a “public garden for the 21st century” ... the Duke donated £5million and 42 acres to the Alnwick Garden Trust.

The Trust brings in young offenders and excluded children encouraging them to gain confidence in engaging with the public through ticket checking and just making eye contact ... something so many find so difficult.

The Rose Garden full of over 3,000 David Austen roses ... all containing a fragrance of some sort ...

Thus once all the legal and regulatory hoops had been jumped through, the Poison Garden was added to the list of features contained within the estate; protected by high security fences, its wrought iron gates appropriately embellished with a skull and crossbones, is here to teach about the myths and legends, along with facts from science and history.

The Poison Garden is home to The Alnwick Garden’s drugs awareness activities programme held in consultation with the Drug Action Team. Specialist tours give school children the chance to learn more about the effects of drugs, and families can learn more together in an informal environment.

The garden also offers learning programmes, volunteering and many community activities ... there is a ‘Roots and Shoots’ programme where youngsters can learn about produce from the growing, picking and eating scheme .. and how many of us know that the taste of a strawberry fresh from the garden is completely different to that found in supermarkets: what a way to learn ... muddy hands, earthy smells and a taste or two at the end ..

My father and his brothers had been at school with the Percy family – those of Hotspur fame – and many years ago decided a trip up north would be interesting to see their ancestral pile: unfortunately the public were not allowed into the Castle ... so we could only view the ramparts from various angles .. and the weather was so hot, which made our break an absolute pleasure – as there is so much to see in the vicinity:

Castles galore, ‘The Cradle of Christianity: Lindisfarne (or Holy) Island with its Lindisfarne Gospels, a wonderful coastline guarded by the Cheviot Hills and northern Pennines containing a wealth of history and culture shaped by a past that was not always peaceful. The landscape is it is today has been formed over centuries from Iron Age hill forts to the legacy of the Romans, through the Middle Ages to the Victorian industrial age – and the evidence is everywhere to be seen and toured.

Bamburgh Castle

With the publicity surrounding this new garden and the recent publication of The Poison Diaries, with rights reserved for a film by the producer of Shrek – it seems that the scene is set for us to learn a great deal more about the Duchess and her vision. If you would like to turn a page or two in the Poison Diaries, go to explore and "My Poison Diary" and see the book’s plant characters that are morphing from their seeds ....

It would appear that the Duchess’s vision has ensured a renaissance that will secure the longevity of the Percy name for many years to come, much as Shakespeare has done with the dashing Hotspur when he made him the real hero of his Henry 1v, Part 1.

Title page of the first quarto (1598)

Since my earlier visit with my father, Northumberland is a place I have always wanted to return to ... and now seeing and reading more about this magnificent set of gardens, while knowing that there is so much more to be explored .. I believe I will be visiting the Castle to wander over ancient bones – see the ghost of Hotspur, perhaps bumping into the Duchess as she presides over her beloved 21st century project – will you join me?

Dear Mr Postman .. my mother watched a little Wimbledon, but as she still cannot hear I could not explain about all the excitement of a century of aces .. she is peaceful and is pleased to see me .. but returns to her sleep quite soon.

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

* PS: I would have liked to have acknowledged Jane Wheatley's article from The Times, whereby I took this description, and from which the post emerged .. but as Rupert Murdoch has decided to charge - I cannot access the link: I have a newspaper version.