Thursday 4 August 2011

Palmer's Farm


Palmer's Farm, near Stratford-upon-Avon, and is owned and maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Until just a few years ago, Palmer's Farm was believed to have been the home of Mary Arden, Shakespeare's mother.




Recent research has revealed that Mary Arden actually lived in the house next door, and that house is now known as Mary Arden's House.

All the photos on this page show Palmer's Farm. 







Round the back of the house is the farmyard.












These are some of the outbuildings, complete with ivy and red climbing roses.










Also round the back is an authentic Elizabethan vegetable garden.

I was surprised to see raised beds. I had thought that raised beds were a modern innovation.




This member of staff was very happy to take a few minutes out to tell me about the history of raised beds. He was able to quote references and dates from various books written at the time.

He told me that raised beds are documented in the first gardening book to written in English, The Gardener's Labyrinth, written by one Didymus Mountain.


This 16th Century illustration is from a modern reprint of The Gardener's Labyrinth.

Here we see the gardener, sitting in his potting shed, with a large jug of ale, refreshing himself.

At the top right is castle on top of a hill, presumably intended to be Camelot, the home of King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.