Celebrate the Life and Work of Landscape Gardener Fanny Wilkinson at Middlethorpe Hall in York

• Stay at York’s Middlethorpe Hall, the former home of Britain’s first female landscape gardener, Fanny Wilkinson

• Explore the gardens that inspired Fanny at Middlethorpe, now a  29-bedroom National Trust hotel with an award-winning restaurant and boutique spa 

Award-winning country house hotel, Middlethorpe Hall, is exceptionally proud of its links with suffragist garden designer Fanny Wilkinson (1855–1951). She lived in the house with her family, and it was where she became passionate about gardening.

Fanny was an early feminist who blazed a trail for female gardeners and changed the face of London by creating “green lungs” in the capital for Londoners suffering from pollution and overcrowding.

Over the course of her career, she was responsible for the design and layout of 75 parks across the city. The first female landscape gardener to be paid for her work, she was a pioneering figure in the campaign for equal pay.

When Fanny trained as a gardener, it was a strictly male preserve. Arguably today’s top garden designers such as Sarah Raven, Rachel de Thame and Sarah Price owe their careers to this horticultural pioneer.

Last year Middlethorpe Hall, now part of the National Trust, unveiled a York Civic Trust Blue Plaque in the walled garden to celebrate her achievements.

And this year is even more exciting. A new bronze statue of Fanny by sculptor Gillian Brett will be installed on a Victorian water fountain in Coronation Gardens in Wandsworth, south west London on 3 July (the park that was laid out by Fanny).

So now is the perfect time to visit Middlethorpe, York’s only country house hotel, to find out more about this Victorian visionary, and explore Middlethorpe’s extensive gardens, with their historic specimen trees and enchanting walled garden.

In Fanny’s honour, the hotel, together with York Gin, have created a “Grey Lady” gin. What better excuse to raise a toast to her memory?

A FEMINIST PIONEER

Fanny Wilkinson designed parks in deprived, working-class areas such as Myatt’s Fields Park in Camberwell, Meath Gardens in Bethnal Green and Vauxhall Park in Lambeth. She was also responsible for the conversion of many churchyards into gardens, including St Anne’s Limehouse, St Luke’s Chelsea, St George’s Bloomsbury and St Mary’s Bow. In addition, she designed several squares, including Red Lion, Wilmington and Northampton Square. 

Fanny Rollo Wilkinson was born in 1855 in Manchester, the eldest child of Dr Matthew Wilkinson, a leading Manchester physician and his wife Louisa.

The family also had a residence at Middlethorpe Hall and after her father’s death in 1878, the family moved there. With its extensive gardens, this was the perfect place for 23-year-old to develop an interest in horticulture. 

As she later recalled, “When my father died we went to live at our own place, near York (Middlethorpe Hall), and there I began to devote myself to gardening in a practical way.”

In 1882, Wilkinson became the first female pupil of the Crystal Palace School of Landscape Gardening and Practical Horticulture: all her fellow students were male. After graduating, she became an “honorary” landscape gardener for the Metropolitan Public Gardens, Boulevard and Playground Association (MPGA), founded by philanthropist Lord Brabazon to facilitate the creation of public gardens and children’s playgrounds in London.

Two years later, in 1886, Fanny had the courage to write to Brabazon: “I feel it would be better for me to drop the ‘hon’ and make a charge which would fully cover all expenses.” At this point, she became the first professional female landscape gardener who was paid for her services and took on female employees.

In 1904, she became the first female principal of Swanley Horticultural College, where she encouraged other women to take up the profession. She also co-founded the Women’s Agricultural and Horticultural International Union, which played a key role in establishing the Women’s Land Army of female farm workers during the first world war. She died age 95 in 1951.

In 2022, English Heritage honoured Fanny with Blue Plaques outside her former homes in Bloomsbury, London and at Middlethorpe Hall.  

FANNY’S LEGACY FOR MIDDLETHORPE TODAY

Fanny’s inspiration is still going strong. The gardens at Middlethorpe have been extensively restored and replanted since the property was acquired in 1980 by Historic House Hotels, now part of the National Trust. But specimen trees, including a Cedar al Lebanon on the main lawn, a mature Red Oak in the Spring Garden, and a Turkey Oak remain from Fanny’s day.

The walled kitchen garden has been planted for fruit: apples, pears, plums, peaches and greengages, all of which are used by the Chef to create wonderful puddings. The team of Gardeners has also created an organic “potager”, producing a large selection of vegetables that are used by chefs during the season.

The main feature of the walled kitchen garden is a mellow brick Dovecote, dating back to 1681 and rescued from dereliction in 1980, now used as a wine cellar. To the west of the kitchen garden is the Rose Garden its lavender-lined stone path. The kitchen garden links through to the walled White Garden, planted with white flowering plants. This leads into the Spring Garden and the park and arboretum, eventually through to a lake surrounded by a glade of trees.

Middlethorpe Hall has 29 individually designed bedrooms, an award-winning restaurant and boutique spa. The classically panelled dining room provides the perfect setting to enjoy the contemporary take on traditional British food. The restaurant has been awarded two AA Rosettes. While the boutique spa, with its blue-tiled pool and sauna, is the perfect place to relax and recharge.

A special part of staying at Middlethorpe Hall is that guests can talk to the head gardener and his team. Andrew Leighton has been working at Middlethorpe Hall for over 14 years, alongside a team of dedicated volunteers, all with a passion to look after the 20 acres of formal garden and parkland that surround the hotel. The gardens have been awarded “Yorkshire in Bloom” awards over several years.

Book a visit to Middlethorpe Hall now – and walk in the green footsteps of the brilliant Fanny Wilkinson.

www.middlethorpe.com Middlethorpe Hall, York, Yorkshire, YO23 2GB
B&B is priced from £289 per room, per night based on two guests sharing