‘I go out and plant cabbages… 2 feet apart is the right distance‘

Elizabeth Gaskell had great hopes for the garden at Plymouth Grove, not just as a beautiful place to relax, but as a source of food for the family. She even joked that ‘I find my proper vocation is farming‘.

Now you can find out about what she grew, where and why based on original sources including letters, maps, photographs and references to her fiction. Join Jackie Tucker to explore some of the symbolism in novels such as Cranford and North And South and discover which fruit and vegetables were grown in the Victorian garden of one of our greatest novelists.

‘Really well researched. Passionate about subject and talk delivered with good knowledge which made it enjoyable.‘ Online visitor to previous garden talk