Rosemary Verey, (21 December 1918 in Chatham, Kent – 31 May 2001 in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

) was an English garden designer, lecturer and garden writer who designed the notable garden at Barnsley House, near

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

in Gloucestershire, England.

Life

Verey was born Rosemary Isabel Baird Sandilands and educated at Eversley School,

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

, and

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. In 1939 she married David Verey, whose family owned Barnsley House, a Grade II* listed 17th-century house about north-east of Cirencester. She was awarded the OBE in 1996, and in 1999 the Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) from the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

, the highest accolade the Society can award.Rosemary Verey obituary
Erica Hunningher, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' 7 June 2001

Garden design

Verey's most significant garden design was that for her own Barnsley House. In 1970, she opened the garden for one day to the public under the

National Gardens Scheme The National Garden Scheme opens privately owned gardens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Channel Islands on selected dates for charity. It was founded in 1927 with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to th ...

; the garden's popularity was such that it would eventually open six days a week to accommodate 30,000 annual visitors. In 1984, after her husband died, she began designing gardens for American and British clients. She helped plant and develop the gardens of Woodside,

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

's estate in Berkshire, as well as

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

Highgrove House Highgrove House is the family residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It lies southwest of Tetbury in Gloucestershire, England. Built in the late 18th century, Highgrove and its estate were owned by various families until it was pu ...

in Gloucestershire, and gardens for

Princess Michael of Kent Princess Michael of Kent (born Baroness Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, 15 January 1945) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Michael of Kent, who is a grandson of George V, King George V. Prince ...

, the

Marquess of Bute Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute. Family history John Stuart was the member of a family that ...

, and the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

. Verey took imposing elements from large public gardens and adapted them to scale for home use. Her laburnum walk in Barnsley House garden is an example of this technique, inspired by the large

laburnum ''Laburnum'', sometimes called golden chain or golden rain, is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are '' Laburnum anagyroides''—common laburnum and '' Laburnum alpinum''— ...

walk at the National Trust's

Bodnant Garden Bodnant Garden () is a National Trust property near Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy, Wales, overlooking the Conwy valley towards the Carneddau mountains. Founded in 1874 and developed by five generations of one family, it was given to the National Trust in ...

in North Wales. Verey is also noted for reviving the fashion for ornamental

kitchen garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

s; that at Barnsley House was inspired by the garden at the

Château de Villandry The Château de Villandry is a grand country house located in Villandry, in the ''département'' of Indre-et-Loire, France. It is especially known for its beautiful gardens. History The lands where an ancient fortress once stood were known as ...

on the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

in France.

Bibliography

*''The Englishwoman's Garden ''.

Chatto and Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...

, 1980. Hardcover: *''The Scented Garden''.

Marshall Editions The Quarto Group is a global illustrated book publishing group founded in 1976. It is domiciled in the United States and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Quarto creates and sells illustrated books for adults and children, across 50 countri ...

1981. Hardcover: *''Classic Garden Design: Adapting and Recreating Garden Features of the Past ''.

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

, 1984. Hardcover: *''The New Englishwoman's Garden ''. Co-authored by

Alvilde Lees-Milne Alvilde Lees-Milne (''née'' Bridges; 13 August 1909 – 18 March 1994) was a British expert in gardening and landscape design. Early life Alvilde was born on 13 August 1909 in London. She was the only child of the Lt.-Gen. Sir (George) Tom ...

, 1987. Hardcover: *''The Flower Arranger's Garden ''.

Conran Octopus Conran Octopus is a division of Octopus Publishing Group, a cross-platform illustrated book publisher. Including architecture, design and gardening. It was founded in 1984 by Sir Terence Conran and Paul Hamlyn, and publishes about eight title ...

, 1992, *''Good Planting''.

Frances Lincoln Publishers Frances Elisabeth Rosemary Lincoln (20 March 1945 – 26 February 2001) was an English independent publisher of illustrated books. She published under her own name and the company went on to become Frances Lincoln Publishers. In 1995, Lincoln ...

, 1990. Hardcover: *''The Art of Planting''. Photographs by Andrew Lawson.

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

, 1990. Hardcover: *''A Countrywoman's Notes''. Foreword by HRH

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 1993. Miniature edition. Hardcover: , . *''Rosemary Verey's Good Planting Plans''.

Little Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

, 1993. Hardcover: *''Secret Gardens: Revealed by Their Owners Chosen and Edited by Rosemary Verey''.

Bulfinch Press Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

, 1994. Hardcover: *''Rosemary Verey's English Country Gardens ''.

Henry Holt & Co Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. The company publishes in the fields of American ...

, 1996. Hardcover: *''The English Country Garden ''.

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...

, 1996. Hardcover: *''Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden''.

, 2001. Photographs by

Tony Lord Tony Lord is a United Kingdom gardener, photographer and author. In 2005 the Royal Horticultural Society awarded him the Victoria Medal of Honour (V.M.H) for his work as a garden photographer, horticultural consultant and writer. Lord started o ...

. Plans rendered in

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

by Hilary Wills.

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

: Paperback: *''The Garden in Winter''.

, 2002. Paperback: *''A Countrywoman's Year'' by Rosemary Verey. First US edition, hard cover. ((Little, Brown and Company, 1989.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verey, Rosemary 1918 births 2001 deaths Alumni of University College London English garden writers English landscape and garden designers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Cirencester Victoria Medal of Honour recipients