IN celebration of its 70th anniversary, the Garden House at Buckland Monachorum played host to a display charting its horticultural history and welcomed its creator's daughter for a visit.

Nancy Fortescue, daughter of creator Lionel Fortescue, joined trustees and other guests, including former head gardener Maurice Northam, for a special anniversary lunch.

The event enabled Nancy — who now lives in Sussex, but still visits the garden her father and mother Katharine Fortescue both lovingly created — to see the new storyboard panels tracing the history of the site and garden from the 14th Century to the present day.

She was delighted to see the display, entitled 'The Garden House Story', featuring a number of quotes from Lionel, which were discovered in an article from the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, dated 1958.

Created with the help of a generous grant from the John Spedan Lewis Foundation, it reveals his views on the garden as it really began to take shape in the 1950s and 60s and gives a great insight into his determination to create a garden experience of the highest horticultural standard.

Nancy said she was absolutely thrilled with the interpretation display and it was beyond her expectations.

'It is wonderful to see the images of the many people who have worked so hard to develop the garden over the past 70 years and I was really pleased to see how the planting has developed since I was here four years ago,' said Nancy. 'The garden looks an absolute picture and is really flourishing under the stewardship of its highly creative and talented head gardener Nick Haworth.

Dianne Long, one of the trustees at The Garden House responsible for making the new display happen, said: 'It is wonderful to be able to tell our story with the help of the man who made it all possible. His comments on how he envisaged the garden and his gardening practices really help to bring the display alive.

The storyboard panels begin with a history of the vicarage on the site from 1305 to the Second World War years before moving on to the story of the Fortescues, Lionel and Katharine, who purchased the house in 1945.

The display marks the beginning of a period of growth of the garden through the 80s and 90s under head gardener Keith Wiley, who introduced 'New Naturalism', and then Matt Bishop who designed the Jubilee Arboretum.

The display then charts the garden's development from the dawn of a new century.