Hello, I'm Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces.

You're listening to our podcast that explores the history and stories of our six palaces.

These talks are a collection of some of our best live events.

I really hope you enjoy listening.

The history of the English Garden reveals more than expected about the past and its people.

This series explores the theme of gardens as places of work, rest and leisure.

In this talk, Hampton Court Palace's Gardens and estates manager, Graham Dillamore,

explores the theme of folklore and gardens.

Tonight, we're going to have, I was talking to someone earlier,

a talk about garden folklore, or something that maybe I could title,

low on fact, but high on fun.

I think I've read many, many years of gardening books, garden history books in particular,

and they're often prescribing how to lay out one's garden,

whether it be flat or on the hills and laying out over avenues of trees.

And as I said, I've read many of them, many of them over the years,

but I often pick out these lovely little snippets of garden folklore.

And when it comes to fruit and vegetables and kitchen gardens,

that's when you really do find the real gyms.

So I'm going to enlighten you tonight some of these great gardening tips

from the 17th and 18th century. I should warn you, when I read out these tips, I have a great

tendency to launch uncontrollably into a Dorset accent because whenever I start thinking about a gardener, I just can't control

myself and I start talking like that. So be warned, I'm not trying to do a different sort of kind of

...