Let's start at the very beginning...
Welcome to the Dead Gardeners Society.
I am Ladybird Su, and I am your guide. Uniquely, I am also the only living
member of the Dead Gardeners Society. I don't quite fulfil the membership
requirements, just yet.
Betley Court Gardens are ten acres of
beautiful English landscape, nestling in the Staffordshire/South Cheshire
border village of Betley. They were once the pleasure grounds of a well-to-do
family, the Cradocks and Fletcher-Twemlows. Over centuries, successive
generations of the family hired the most fashionable landscape designers of the
day to model the grounds, and trend-setting architects to alter the house. And
Betley Court held its position at the centre of village life.
However, the 20th century was a period of
changing fortunes for Betley Court. The two World Wars and the social changes
they brought with them touched the village. By the 1930s, the remaining
family members no longer lived there. In 1936, Betley Court joined the war
effort, serving as a Red Cross Hospital for recuperating servicemen. Then it
was incorporated into the fledgling National Health Service, becoming Betley
Court Rehabilitation Centre, dealing with the orthopaedic injuries of miners
and victims of road traffic accidents.
After the Rehabilitation Centre closed in 1965,
Betley Court lay empty and neglected, becoming victim to damp, rot and
thieves. Until, in 1978, a man called Professor Godfrey Brown, an academic at
Keele University saw a 'For Sale' sign outside, and thought it looked like
'an interesting building'. Along with his wife, Freda, their three lads, and
numerous tradesmen and helpers, they spent many years and a pretty penny
restoring the house. They'd always hoped to restore the gardens too, and eventually
share them with the public. It’s hoped that, with the assistance of the
Heritage Lottery Fund, this vision can be realised, finally.
This is the story of that journey.
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