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Watch Hidden Treasures of the National Trust S04E06 [Full Movie] - smirnadramatime on Dailymotion
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00:02Every year, millions of us flock to the houses and gardens of the National
00:07Trust, taking 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.
00:48I've not yet smushed anything.
00:50Don't say that.
00:52Am I going to have to be here all day like this?
00:54Meow.
00:57How exciting.
00:59Look 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.
01:21Just exquisite.
01:23A mysterious portrait takes center stage.
01:26She does look astonishing.
01:27She does, doesn't she?
01:28Absolutely beautiful.
01:29And a lost garden bursts into bloom.
01:33It'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.
01:57Keeps cutting out on me.
02:00These ghostly remains are surrounded by one of the most important gardens in the National Trust.
02:07...filled with a famous collection of rare plants from all corners of the globe.
02:13All right, 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
02:41area 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,
02:52German-Jewish émigrés who settled here in the 19th century.
02:56The first donor at Nyman's was Ludwig Messel and Ludwig was responsible really for,
03:03I guess, setting out the structure of the garden and actually in the time since then the main bones
03:09and structure of the garden hasn't really changed.
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, it's Illyria Coomber's Pink, named after Harold Coomber.
03:26His dad, James Coomber, would have been 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,
03:36so, yeah, yeah, it might be nice at some stage, I don't know what I'd call it, Joe's Irish Musk,
03:41maybe.
03:45This is the main entrance for visitors, lovely big old door.
03:52OK, that wasn't precedented. There we go.
03:59In 1947, a fire ripped through Nyman's, destroying everything apart from the West Wing.
04:06Caring for these last remaining rooms today is collections assistant Louise.
04:13I started working at Nyman's just over nine years ago now. I'm always interested in National Trust
04:19properties and always visited them. I think it's because I'm a nosy person by nature, I want to
04:24know what's going on in the background. I love this door, it's great. I consider myself a door whisperer
04:31to get through all of these. Oh, it wasn't that creaky. There we go. OK. It felt like a family
04:38house.
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. But in this family home, nothing is quite as it seems.
04:52This is set up like a sitting room. A lovely cup of tea, although, oh, no, OK. We are quite
04:58good on our
04:58stage foods. I think we've got a G&T somewhere as well, if that's more your taste. I think Oliver
05:05Messel
05:06would have loved anything like that because it's a proper set. Oliver Messel, one of the last
05:11generation of Messels to live at Nyman's, was one of the leading British theatre designers of the 20th
05:17century. He was growing up in this very artistic world, in this very beautiful place. His parents
05:24were friends with all sorts of creative people from the theatre and artists, so perhaps it's not
05:29surprising 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
05:43escapist style. In the Victorian period, you've got quite heavy historical creations on the stage,
05:51and his creations are much lighter, much fresher. It really brings a new aesthetic to theatre, full of
05:59pastiche and imitation. It's quite camp. One of my favourite quotes of Oliver's is he says,
06:05I attempted to use every device to make as much magic as possible. Over more than three decades,
06:13he designed hundreds of sets and costumes for opera, plays, ballet and film, from the West End and Covent
06:20Garden to Glyndebourne and Hollywood. Oliver Messel was really quite radical at the time. A measure of
06:28Oliver's success is that people would go to the theatre to not just see the actress performing, but
06:32to see the sets by Oliver Messel, and he was up there on the billing as the designer.
06:41To celebrate his illustrious career, the team at Nyman's are staging a brand new retrospective of
06:48his work. It takes so much organising. We've been talking about it for such a long time,
06:55about what we're going to put in it and how we can present it. It's a really big deal for
06:59Nyman's.
07:01Stage sets, props and artworks from archives across the country
07:05are arriving at the Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio in Kent, where a crack team
07:12of National Trust conservators are readying them for their return to the limelight.
07:17We have paper conservators, we have objects conservators, decorative surface conservators,
07:22paintings conservators, frames conservators. We have a lot of different eyes on these different
07:26types of objects. It's a really, really exciting part of the job. But the star of the show is a
07:33recent
07:33addition to the collection, never before seen in public, that tells a more personal story of the
07:40successful stage designer. Curators Caroline and Richard have come to see it for the first time.
07:46Hi, Anna. Wow, look at it. I mean, it's amazing to see this finally. I was involved in the acquisition,
07:56but 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. It looks a bit
08:14like Anne is sort of floating on these crashing Rococo waves, but actually it's just his big sister
08:19dressing up. I think it's clear that Oliver and Anne had a very close relationship. They were just two
08:25years apart in age and, you know, they grew up at Nyman's together and stayed close all through their
08:31lives. You know, I think that he was writing to her just about every day. But there's nothing every day
08:38about Anne's portrait, although little is known about the story behind it. She's wearing this fabulous
08:46costume, this French-style, baroque, 18th-century look with a blue wig. It would be fascinating to
08:53understand in more detail how this painting was made, whether Oliver painted it from life or from
09:00photos, and why Oliver depicts Anne in this way. Before Anne can reveal her secrets, there's a more
09:09pressing problem. She 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. So all of that surface dirt
09:29that's accumulated over time is sitting on the original paint. This might be the first time it's
09:34actually being conserved. After 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. And it's just to pick up the
09:54little bits of dust and ingrained dirt from the surface. We 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 color being picked up, but just
10:15the gray dirt on the surface. I think it's a really wonderful painting. It feels like it's made by an
10:22artist who's really enjoying what they're doing. There is a kind of closeness that you see in the
10:28painting between the sitter and the artist. You can sort of tell that they were very close.
10:34It's just a really exciting surface to be looking at. You see these pencil or charcoal lines appear and
10:39then disappear again behind layers of paint. And you sort of feel like you're there witnessing
10:45the process of Messel creating this painting. I'm deliberately avoiding the areas that have
10:53this charcoal line because, I mean, charcoal is much more friable and it can really be picked up by
11:00something like a sponge. Here 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.
11:11Anne 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 Messel's work is fast approaching.
11:28In the Surrey countryside lies the home of another designer with a unique style
11:34and a healthy disregard for the rule book. Munsted Wood, boasting one of the most significant gardens
11:43in 20th century horticulture.
11:47Well, every morning the birds get fed. It's all rather part and parcel of the week.
11:55Today, the flora and fauna are kept in line by head gardener Annabelle.
12:01We do not have pink fox gloves here and if there does happen to be one, it has to get
12:07removed.
12:09You need to be one step ahead. In fact, I always likened the garden to that circus trick
12:16with a chap running around spinning plates on poles.
12:25From 1897 Munsted Wood was the home and workplace of famed garden designer Gertrude Jekyll,
12:32who transformed the face of British gardens in the early 20th century.
12:37The garden at Munsted 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
12:47because it's just become embedded in the way we plant, the way we combine our plants,
12:52the different colour combinations. You know, she is, you know, in a sense,
12:56a national treasure in that she has become part of British horticulture.
13:00The seeds of Jekyll's horticultural revolution were sown here at Munsted Wood,
13:06but most of the original planting is long gone.
13:09In 2023, the National Trust acquired the house and grounds, taking on the mammoth task,
13:16begun by more recent owners, of restoring the gardens to their former glory.
13:22We need to have a big splash of yellow here.
13:25Sure. OK.
13:26So those need to go in the front there.
13:29Jekyll designed over 300 gardens across the UK and abroad,
13:34from large estates like Hestercoombe in Somerset to more modest gardens in the growing commuter belt.
13:42No sort of straight lines, just sort of heagledy-beagledy.
13:46Sure thing.
13:47Ditching the Victorian fashion for formal planting,
13:51she 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.
14:08But while these tumbling flowers may look like they've been left to grow as nature intended,
14:14appearances can be deceptive.
14:18This is a border plan of the main border here,
14:22and this is a bit of a bible and a key to the planting here at Munsted Wood.
14:31You've got to be quite ruthless with plants as well,
14:34because something might have seeded itself and grown quite happily here,
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,
14:46so I am a bit ruthless.
14:52Gertrude Jekyll's single-minded dedication to the garden and her business left no time for
14:58distractions like a husband.
15:01Jekyll was known as the mother of English gardening, and I think she was very no-nonsense,
15:07I think we 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.
15:27Gertrude Jekyll did love cats, and so when her head gardener said that there was a
15:32ewe hedge in the garden beginning to look a bit feline, she accepted it being cut into the shape of
15:39a cat.
15:42Jekyll's topiary cat first took shape around 1920, but 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.
15:57It's more like a snail now, isn't it?
16:00What are you going to do to me?
16:02All right.
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, yeah, I think so.
16:23To restore this king of the jungle to his throne.
16:27Meow.
16:27Meow.
16:29Could somebody hold that for me about there and we'll just have a quick look?
16:32Sorry, I don't know.
16:33I'm not the smartest.
16:34Get the smartest person.
16:36I can hold it.
16:37Just have a quick look out.
16:39I think that's probably the top.
16:40Am 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.
16:55Yeah.
16:56It's definitely about five foot higher than it should be.
17:00Gosh.
17:00There's no point fiddling around.
17:02So we're going to go make some drastic cuts.
17:05It's going to be rather painful to watch, actually.
17:11Under the watchful eye of Annabelle and the team, Darren dives in.
17:16Knowing any mistake could really put the cat amongst the pigeons.
17:24Very little remains of Jekyll's original planting.
17:28But there are some very special horticultural veterans.
17:33That still burst into bloom every year.
17:43Those, of course, what I consider the garden antiques that have survived unsympathetic owners
17:50and various world wars. So they really are quite precious.
17:55These azaleas are nearly a century and a half old.
17:59And some of the only surviving plants from Gertrude Jekyll's time.
18:07We've got this really unique collection of 247 azaleas that she planted herself.
18:13And so, yeah, we're trying to keep that 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 ground-breaking technique called
18:34micro-propagation will create genetic copies of Jekyll's prize azaleas.
18:40We should be able to replace any that may die or look very unhealthy. Or maybe we can then replant
18:47another collection somewhere else to enable to keep it going in the future.
18:52It'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,
19:21fatter one is a flower bud. So we'll just find about five healthy-looking samples to put in the bag.
19:34All right, 172.
19:37I think Miss Jekyll would be really interested in this whole process, and hopefully she'd be really
19:43excited to know that her plants that she so lovingly chose to go in her collection were being well cared
19:52for and looked after. Jekyll's legacy is now in the hands of these tiny flower buds.
20:08But it's not just the garden at Munstead 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.
20:25Munstead Wood is that first kind of major collaboration between these two giants of the
20:30arts and crafts movement, Lutyens as architect, and Gertrude Jekyll as garden designer and on this
20:37occasion client. Jekyll and Lutyens met and became friends in 1889. 25 years his senior,
20:46she was already an established gardener. He was an ambitious young architect.
20:52At Munstead Wood we have classic Lutyens channeling architecture that surrounded him in rural Surrey,
21:00with a dollop of medieval, and that really appealed to Gertrude Jekyll, the cottage garden queen.
21:08So there was definitely a meeting of minds between the two of them.
21:13After Munstead Wood, the pair collaborated on over 70 designs across the UK and abroad.
21:22A symbol of their partnership survives inside the house, the door to Jekyll's workshop,
21:28which 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. The intricacy of some of these inlaid areas,
21:46these bone and mother of pearl, are just exquisite. It's quite quirky. This door handle here is just
21:54very arts and crafts. This door is quite an amazing object. You know, I talk to colleagues about it,
22:00and you say, oh, Jekyll, oh, she's a gardener. But actually, you look at that, I mean, she's a,
22:04you know, she's quite an amazing craftswoman. But repairs are needed to bring the door back
22:09up to Jekyll's high standards. So there's a few areas of missing carving decoration here,
22:16these dental mouldings here, and there's one down the bottom there. This type of moulding is called
22:21dental moulding, because they look like teeth. And 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. Obviously,
22:32it's door she used every single day and all the time. So it was her, if you like, walking into
22:37her own
22:38kingdom. And that's what's quite special about it. First, Dan needs to take a cast of an existing
22:44section of wooden moulding to recreate in his workshop. So I'm just going to use some
22:52silica mould. It's actually mould that's used for making hearing aids,
22:56but it's quite quick setting. So it's very good for taking impressions.
23:04I'm just going to leave this to cure, and then it'll give the impression
23:06the missing sections of carving 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. So yeah, it's perfect.
23:31It's perfect. It's perfect. It's perfect. It's perfect. It's perfect. It's perfect.
23:32Famous for its richly planted gardens and atmospheric ruins, Neumann's, in Sussex,
23:38is one of the most popular gardens in the National Trust.
23:44When Ludwig bought the estate initiative, it was very much about developing
23:47and expanding the plant collection, you know. And it 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,
23:57the most unusual plants. I like to think Oliver would probably like the garden a lot now if he
24:02was to come, you know, because it's so theatrical and bold and a little bit over the top of time.
24:06So just kind of the fun of it.
24:10Today, Oliver's sense of theatre is being brought inside the house, as his sets and props arrive for
24:16the upcoming exhibition. And there's another arrival who has a keen interest in Oliver's legacy.
24:24Ah, gosh, this looks rather nice. His 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. He just was so adept at doing anything and he could make raw materials into very
24:43beautiful things. I love the romance of Oliver's designs. Everything about him was to do with romance
24:52and beauty. Oliver started his career as an artist in the 1920s when, with his sister Anne, he was part
25:01of
25:01the glamorous, aristocratic set, The Bright Young Things, amongst the likes of photographer Cecil Beaton
25:08and the Mitford sisters. The Messel siblings shone brightest of them all.
25:14They're revellers, they're party goers. They're poking fun at the traditions and values of their
25:21parents' generation. And so we see them dressing up in fancy dress costumes. They're absolutely a
25:27modern phenomenon in the 20s and 30s. Are you all right with that? Yep.
25:32How Spanager Rebecca is meeting Thomas in the family's flat on the estate to learn more about
25:38how Oliver portrayed Anne in her 1932 portrait. What I really want to know is why Oliver painted
25:46his sister in that costume wearing a blue wig. What's the starting point for that? Well, I can tell
25:52you a little bit about that. I have got rather a lot of photographs of Anne and Oliver together
25:57and it might just begin to explain the story. It's a photograph by Cecil Beaton of Oliver and Anne.
26:05That's the same dress as the portrait. But this was no ordinary fancy dress party. These costumes
26:13match those of Oliver's daring production of an operetta based on La Belle Hélène, which was staged at the
26:20Adelphi Theatre in 1932. This is why she's wearing that dress. That is it. She does look astonishing.
26:28She does, doesn't she? Absolutely beautiful. Oliver's production of Helen took the theatre
26:34world by storm, running for nearly 200 performances. I do believe that it was painted to celebrate
26:41that highly important moment in his life when he had made it as the greatest stage designer in the
26:48world. What a lovely way to celebrate it with a portrait like that. Exactly. Fantastic.
26:55After the success of Helen, Oliver hit the big time. In the 1940s and 50s,
27:02his brand of colourful escapism was perfect for a country desperate to forget the dark days of the
27:08Second World War. As 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. Same-sex relationships were
27:25criminalised in Britain until 1967. And so that's the backdrop for the majority of Oliver Messel's life.
27:33But Oliver and Van were able to be open about their relationship within the social circles that
27:38they moved in. I think it's really interesting to look at the artistic output of queer people
27:44as a form of self-expression. Oliver's looking at things from an unconventional angle in a different way.
27:52As the exhibition to celebrate Messel's legacy draws closer,
27:57conservators 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
28:10of my colleagues are working on other objects by Messel, which is really exciting working side by side
28:16together on these objects. Anna has finished cleaning Anne's portrait and is turning her attention
28:23to her missing paintwork. So there are just some little losses here in the flesh tones and these
28:31are just where the original paint has flaked off in the past and so I'll attempt to just match the
28:36surrounding colour so that we won't be able to see those losses anymore.
28:43But colour matching is more of an art than a science. Sometimes if you feel like you get the right
28:50colour,
28:50you can be on a roll and then other days it just feels like you can't quite find the right
28:55colour
28:55and that can be frustrating. And it's not just Messel's colour Anna has to recreate,
29:02it's also his style. I have spent quite a lot of time just trying to understand the brushwork,
29:09sort of follow the artist's hand, look at how the paint plays on the surface and I find that an
29:16incredibly enjoyable part of the work.
29:24The countdown to Oliver's exhibition is on. The National Trust Textile Conservation Studio in Norfolk
29:32has just taken delivery of some more Oliver Messel figures in need of a makeover.
29:40Definitely helps that he has a face and a very,
29:42a very handsome one at that with a nice smile and nice eyes.
29:49These papier-mâché boatmen were designed for a production of Mozart's opera Il Seraglio,
29:56staged at Glyndebourne in 1956. The opera is set in the Ottoman Empire, present-day Turkey,
30:04in the palace of a nobleman. An earlier version of the story that inspired Mozart's opera describes the
30:11boatmen as North Africans. And 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. And the image of Asia,
30:29of Turkey, which Oliver Messel represents, is a European fantasy. It's based on stereotypes rather
30:38than rooted in the reality. The clothes are all made of the same fabric, which is a cotton demet.
30:45We use it for curtain interlinings and for making quilts. And what they've very cleverly done is,
30:51is then just painted the areas to represent other bits of clothing. So his breeches are purple,
30:58his 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
31:09dishevelled. You can see the back of his coat has become a bit misaligned. So in order to get this
31:16box pleat back in place, I'm going to use an ultrasonic humidifier. It works by causing very,
31:24very quick vibrations, which then produces a cold water mist, as opposed to using a steamer,
31:31because we want to eliminate the risk of any shrinkage of the fibres that heat can do. It's
31:38really satisfying to see the textiles relax and come back to life really. Once the fabric has softened,
31:47Anna 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. And hopefully
32:00as this dries, it will set itself in the correct position. Yeah, I think all these little details
32:08add to the charm of the object and how and why they were made in the first place. He's much
32:14more
32:14presentable with his jacket now sitting as it should.
32:18But it's not just the jacket that needs attention. The boatman is bursting out of his britches,
32:25and Anna's sewing kit isn't much help.
32:29Obviously, gluing was much quicker than stitching to get these clothes on these figures. And you can
32:34almost 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 instant reward, really. And then I'm just going to hold
32:46that in place while it dries with a couple of pins. There, so I'm just going to leave that with
32:55those
32:55pins in for a couple of hours. And then that's that seam closed. But I know there are lots of
33:02other
33:02open seams across the figures. Every time you look, you find a newly opened one. The boatman's outfit is
33:09on the way to being conserved. But time is running short. At Nyman's, the stage is being set for their
33:16return,
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
33:35star performer back on track. Gertrude 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. I like the chaos that comes with working with plants.
34:05Never really know how they might react. You can have a good idea, but they can always surprise you.
34:16That's definitely starting to look like a cat at the back.
34:21What we've done is we've excavated what we think is the original paw here. We've had a quick go on
34:28the plinth, which signals that this is a work of art today. But Darren's learning
34:34there is more than one way to skin a topiary cat. I'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.
34:51In fact, if we grab some string, let's mark them out and have a look.
34:56Let's have a look.
34:59Wow. Awful.
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. I've left worse in gardens,
35:17you know. We want to do it once and do it well, get it back into the shape that we
35:21want it to be.
35:22So, 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. This 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, but it's going to take a little
35:49bit of time.
35:51It's something that was so special, I think, to Miss Jekyll, that it's great that we can,
35:56we'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.
36:10But the work to secure her legacy is far from over.
36:14Today, Claire's mission to preserve the 140-year-old azalea collection has led her to a top-secret location in
36:22the 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 to the National Trust Plant Conservation Centre and plant conservator, Darrell.
36:42It's one of the places you won't find in the handbook.
36:45It's an extremely biosecure unit because we really need to keep these special plants free from pests and disease so
36:52we 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.
37:01This is where the magic happens.
37:03Wow.
37:05Jekyll's azaleas will be in good company.
37:07The Plant Conservation Centre holds cuttings of some of the most important plants in Britain.
37:13Over here is the one that everyone wants to see.
37:16Oh, yeah.
37:16These are the sycamore gap seedlings.
37:19That's incredible.
37:21And then just over this way, another rather inconspicuous-looking twiggy plant.
37:26Yeah.
37:26This is one of the descendants from the Isaac New Snaffle tree from Halls Fork Manor.
37:32We hold a stock here of these.
37:34Oh, do you?
37:34Just for that sort of security, really.
37:40Today, Darrell 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, the most success you have is working with very immature
38:23material and the 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.
38:32Darrell's looking for the florets, tiny immature flowers nestled inside each bud.
38:39All right, well, you've stuck gold early here.
38:42I feel like I'm channeling my inner surgeon when I'm working on these.
38:45There 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.
38:59One slip now and it's all over for this azalea's propagation prospects.
39:06A tiny little piece of plant here could grow into a mature shrub one day.
39:14A little piece of horticultural gold, if you will.
39:19Once he has successfully excised the golden floret,
39:23Darrell 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 Darrell knows if the propagation has been a success.
39:43But 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.
40:29Lovely 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? From her garden writing,
40:43her reputation is passed down through her books. But I get a sense that there's a lot more to her
40:49than just the gardening. She was extraordinary, really. She had so powerful intellect. She was very,
40:57very interesting to talk to and interested in everything. I mean, she never stopped working.
41:04No. And making and doing. And she was trained by her father. Their hands itched to make things
41:11and do things. I'm really hoping that you can help us track down some of the objects that we know
41:17were at Munstead Wood, but have since been lost. Yes. Well, I've got one or two of them here.
41:23I mean, that would be amazing to see.
41:24You can have a look at. Right. Now, in here, you will see the blotter. Ah, 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
41:47in the metal. You see, it's good. Her flourishes. She's very fond of those kind of leaves.
41:54Scroll. Yes. It must have a name. Different sort of floral motifs. You can see her. Yes.
41:59Flowers coming in as well. Yes. It's very reminiscent of the inlay work, isn't it,
42:03that we have at Munstead Wood. Careful how you go. And Primrose has a very different example of
42:11Jekyll's work. She is keen for Caroline to see. All right. I take this in.
42:20My goodness, this is the only piece of embroidery that I've seen of Jekyll's. So well preserved. Yes.
42:27It seems very typical of what I think of now as Jekyll's work. You sort of start to get your
42:31eye in and
42:31recognise. Yes. It's the familiar flowers gathered. Yeah. So again, it's just very like
42:37the detail that we saw in the Silver Repousset blotter, that exact same basket, but just done in
42:42silver. You know, it's fantastic to be able to see more examples of her work, to get an idea of
42:47her distinctive style. Working at Munstead, with it being a brand new acquisition for the National Trust,
42:55there's obviously there's a lot more scope for discovery to bring Gertrude Jekyll's story back to life.
43:01And I hope that, you know, we'll be able to do more original research at Munstead Wood
43:04that will underpin what 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.
43:21Today, furniture conservator Dan is in his studio, working on one of the most important,
43:27her workshop door. So the mould I took at Munstead, and I've filled with some polyester resin,
43:34which is just hardened off now. So I'm going to take it out the mould, and hopefully,
43:38we'll have the profile, without air bubbles, of the missing 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
43:50see the contrast of the different areas of the moulding. Dan needs to replicate the specific
43:55shape 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 around. It's like a
44:07drill, and it'll cut that groove in there. These are my router bits, and they have different profiles,
44:13so I'm going to try and find a bit that will 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 with a saw.
44:43And see if I've got that moulding correct. So 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
45:09the hand craftsmanship and actually copy what they've done. You almost have a sense of
45:14responsibility to the craftsman who'd made these pieces. We're going to take this down the moulding
45:19plane, 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.
45:46You can see almost the soul of the person who's made it in the piece of furniture you're working on.
45:52Now the new section of moulding is shaping up, it's ready to go back to Munsted Wood to be fitted
45:59into
46:00the workshop door. Over in Sussex, it's just two weeks until the opening of the Oliver Messel exhibition
46:12at Neumann's. The team are flat out as props, artworks and theatre sets arrive from conservation
46:20studios across the country. Up one, that's it. Today, one very special object is getting ready to take
46:29its place centre stage. The portrait of Oliver's sister, Anne. Bingo!
46:37It's just going to be amazing to see how the conservation is going to bring the colours back together.
46:44All right, over to you. Oh, goodness. Isn'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,
47:03I feel it's really important and I'd like to think that they would enjoy that too.
47:07It's amazing. It is amazing.
47:09I think this is the centrepiece of the exhibition. It's the piece everybody is going to want to see.
47:17It looks wonderful. It looks as fresh as the day it was painted. It's really light,
47:22you can see the detail that Oliver intended in the painting now and I'm delighted that visitors
47:27now get a chance to see it. And Thomas Messel, along with his cousin Rupert,
47:33have come to see the newly rejuvenated portrait of Anne.
47:44I absolutely love it. I cannot believe how the colours have really come out. I think the painting
47:53is a good reminder not only how beautiful she was in her youth, but the love that she shared with
47:59her
47:59brother. It's done with true feeling and affection. She lived here and Oliver lived here, so to have
48:06something that is a family piece like that back in its home at Neumann's, looked after by the National
48:12Trust, is one of the things that makes this the most special story. It's a coming home, isn't it?
48:17Yes. It'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
48:34and their life at Neumann's. We've got a lovely monument dedicated to Oliver and also his long-time
48:42partner, Varn Rees Hansen. We 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. He died in the 1970s and left
49:04instructions for his ashes to be brought back to Neumann's with Varn's. Anne had them buried beneath
49:12an urn in the gardens where he played as a boy. I did get a bit emotional about it, sort
49:18of thinking
49:18that I hope they could be authentic and as free as they could in their relationship.
49:26That looks really good, actually. That's cleaned it up nice and crisp.
49:30Now we need to take the actual cover off, the winter cover off.
49:43There you go, guys. It looks lovely.
49:53In Surrey, furniture conservator Dan is back at Munsted Wood.
49:58Good morning. Thank 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.
51:14And I didn't tell the person the pet shop where I was going to use it for because they think
51:16I'm mad.
51:19Beef bone's quite good at hold the veneer.
51:21It's the go-to bone, if you like, because most of them are too soft.
51:27Have you got a duck?
51:28I have two, yeah, yeah.
51:31Did they get any leftovers?
51:32I didn't, no, no.
51:35Right, let's see if this fits.
51:40Pretty close.
51:42A bit of a final finishing.
51:49It's lovely when it pops into place, yeah, it just goes and it's in and it's just like...
52:01That's it.
52:02Yes.
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.
52:24So it's basically digging into the, into the bone.
52:28And then we'll go over it with some black pegments.
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.
52:44Forever knowing that you've got a part of you on that, on that door as part of its history as
52:48well.
52:49It's amazing.
53:00Down in the West Country, Munstead wood gardener Claire is back at the Trust's top secret plant conservation centre.
53:10There you go.
53:10Does it have to be done up as well?
53:12Yeah.
53:12OK.
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 have started doing this year.
53:34Oh, that's amazing.
53:38That's incredible.
53:40They've got tiny little leaves.
53:41That's so cool.
53:42So you happy with how these are looking?
53:45Yeah, we're doing really well with these actually.
53:47They've, as you can see, 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.
54:01Let's take them.
54:03Under Daryl's watchful eye, Claire takes up the tweezers.
54:08So if you want to take the lid off, carefully, and don't cough.
54:11No.
54:13OK.
54:14All right.
54:15This is quite exciting.
54:17OK, lid there.
54:18Yeah, that's it.
54:19And then just 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.
54:26And then see if we can break this into four or so pieces.
54:31OK.
54:31And then just down the middle, like that?
54:32Down the middle.
54:33And you might not need to cut too much, so you tend to sort of break away.
54:36Yeah.
54:37Lovely.
54:38OK.
54:40After dividing up the tiny plant fragments,
54:44Claire carefully transfers them to their new pots.
54:48It feels like quite a significant moment.
54:51Right.
54:52They just symbolise, I guess, Miss Jekyll's work over, you know,
54:56the sort of 50-odd years she was at Munstead 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 Nyman'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.
55:32It'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 just to see some people's reaction and just to...
55:44That's the good bit, I'm sure.
55:46OK, you're going to go first.
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.
56:14That's great.
56:19We've got the family involved, the Messel family will make it at the opening.
56:23We know them pretty well by now, but 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, fantastic!
56:45I was wearing it!
56:48Oh, my gosh!
56:50Oh, my God!
56:53It looks 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, right, Maureen 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.
57:18Really, 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
57:44to discover how different landscapes have shaped these hidden treasures.
57:49Scan the QR code on screen or visit connect.open.ac.uk forward slash hidden treasures.
58:03Watch and awe are in complete jealousy.
58:06The search is on for Wales Home of the Year.
58:08Episodes now on iPlayer.
58:10This and everything across the BBC is made possible because we're funded by you.
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