How Nell Gwyn Won Bestwood Park: A Garden History Tale
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
November 14, 1687
Today in garden history, we remember Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn, who died at the age of 37 in her Pall Mall house in London.
Known as "pretty, witty Nell" by diarist Samuel Pepys, she was one of the most celebrated figures of the Restoration period and a long-time mistress of King Charles II.
The writer and gardener John Evelyn famously overheard the King and Nell early in their romance, speaking as couples do in her garden "on a terrace on top of the wall."
Among her many legacies is a remarkable garden story that showcases her legendary wit. At Bestwood Park near Nottingham, a royal hunting estate where she often entertained Charles II, she cleverly secured a significant land grant through an ingenious early morning ride.
The story goes that Charles II and his courtiers would often tease Nell for sleeping late and missing the morning hunt. In response, Charles playfully offered her "all the land she could ride around before breakfast." To everyone's astonishment, the next morning, they found Nell already seated at breakfast. She had risen before dawn and ridden the boundaries of what would become Bestwood Park, dropping handkerchiefs along her route to mark her claim.
The King, impressed by her cunning, honored the bargain. Today, Bestwood Country Park stands as a testament to Nell's wit and determination. The 650-acre park features ancient oak woodland, wildflower meadows, and the remnants of the hunting lodge where this famous wager took place.
Nell's connection to gardens extended beyond Bestwood. At Lauderdale House in Highgate, she kept a garden with terraces where she and Charles would often walk. The house featured "Nell Gwynn's bath" and a famous terrace where, according to legend, she once dangled their infant son from a window until Charles agreed to grant him a title - that of Earl of Burford.
The poet Samuel Blanchard, a friend of both Dickens and Thackeray, wrote a delightful poem entitled 'Nell Gwyn's Looking Glass'.
Glass antique, 'twixt thee and Nell
Draw we here a parallel.
She, like thee, was forced to bear
All reflections, foul or fair;
Thou art deep and bright within,
Depths as bright belonged to Gwynne;
Thou art very frail as well,
Frail as flesh is - so was Nell.
Blanchard's comparison of a looking glass to Nell Gwynn highlighted shared characteristics of depth, brightness, and inherent fragility.
As we remember Nell Gwyn today, she lives on in garden history through:
- Bestwood Country Park, which welcomes nearly 400,000 visitors annually
- The restored gardens at Burford House, which she received from Charles II
- Various garden features and monuments that bear her name across England
Her final resting place is at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, where she was buried on November 17, 1687. Charles II's deathbed wish to his brother James II - "Let not poor Nelly starve" - ensured that her legacy, including her garden properties, would be preserved.
Nell and Charles were together for 17 years. She gave him two sons, and they were both given titles.
Today, Nell is remembered in the Chrysanthemum 'Nell Gwynn' with pretty pink petals and a bright yellow center.
