Penelope Hobhouse
Encyclopedia
Penelope Hobhouse is a garden writer, designer, lecturer and television presenter.
family she is the daughter of James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark
and a sister of Lord Moyola
and Sir Robin Chichester-Clark
.
, graduating with a BA in economics in 1951. She walked through Tuscany and taught herself gardening by examples of the Tuscan villa gardens she saw; she went on to be a garden writer and designer, publishing many books on the subject. Until 1993 she was in charge of Tintinhull House gardens in Somerset
.
In 1996 she hosted a television series for House and Garden Television in the USA. Her publications include; Colour in Your Garden, Plants in Garden History, Penelope Hobhouse on Gardening', Penelope Hobhouse’s Garden Designs, and Penelope Hobhouse’s Natural Planting.
Penelope Hobhouse is "a fixture in the minds of gardeners who love rooms and bones — the paths and walls and satisfying verticals that form the skeleton of a garden." She has designed gardens in England, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the United States. They include a garden for Elizabeth the Queen Mother, at Walmer Castle
in Kent, ‘The Country Garden’ for the Royal Horticultural Society
at Wisley, a renaissance-style garden in Italy
and a garden for the fashion designer, Jil Sander
, in Germany.
She is an associate editor of Gardens Illustrated magazine.
In 1993 Penelope Hobhouse received an Award of Excellence for her book, Gardening Through the Ages from the Garden Writers Association of America.
In December 1996 she received the Royal Horticultural Society Victoria Medal of Honour, the highest award given by the RHS to British Horticulturists.
In November 1999 she received the Life Time Achievement Award from the Guild of Garden Writers.
She has an honorary degree from Birmingham University and has taught at the University of Essex
.
(d 1965), of Castle Cary
, Somerset
; this marriage was dissolved in 1983, and she left the garden she had restored at the Hobhouse seat, Hadspen, Somerset. By Paul Hobhouse she has one daughter, Georgina Dehra Catherine (b 9 March 1953) and two sons, Niall Alexander (b 29 Aug 1954) and David Paul (b 9 Sept 1957). She moved to Tintinhull and met her second husband, Prof John Melville Malins, at a Garden History Society meeting; they married in 1983,; he died in 1992.
Known still as Penelope Hobhouse, she then lived in Bettiscombe
, Dorset
. She moved in September 2008 back to Hadspen, where she is starting a new garden outside her quarters which are in the yard. Her new garden is a south facing and 17m x17m( 56ft x 56ft) enclosure at the back of some converted stables surrounded by mature box hedging. It will be quite a challenge as her Bettiscombe garden was a good deal warmer than this one.
Background
Born Penelope Chichester-Clark into an Anglo-IrishAnglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
family she is the daughter of James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark
James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark
James Jackson Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark was a Member of Parliament of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for South Londonderry from 1929 until his death. His son James Chichester-Clark later became Prime Minister of Northern Ireland...
and a sister of Lord Moyola
James Chichester-Clark
James Dawson Chichester-Clark, Baron Moyola, PC, DL was the penultimate Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and eighth leader of the Ulster Unionist Party between 1969 and March 1971. He was Member of the Northern Ireland Parliament for South Londonderry for 12 years beginning at the by-election...
and Sir Robin Chichester-Clark
Robin Chichester-Clark
Sir Robert Chichester-Clark was member of parliament for Londonderry in the British House of Commons from 1955 until February 1974, and was the only member representing Northern Ireland to be a British government minister since the Government of Ireland Act 1920.-Early life:Chichester-Clark was...
.
Education and career
She was educated at North Foreland Lodge and Girton College, CambridgeGirton College, Cambridge
Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential women's college, established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon. The full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the...
, graduating with a BA in economics in 1951. She walked through Tuscany and taught herself gardening by examples of the Tuscan villa gardens she saw; she went on to be a garden writer and designer, publishing many books on the subject. Until 1993 she was in charge of Tintinhull House gardens in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
.
In 1996 she hosted a television series for House and Garden Television in the USA. Her publications include; Colour in Your Garden, Plants in Garden History, Penelope Hobhouse on Gardening', Penelope Hobhouse’s Garden Designs, and Penelope Hobhouse’s Natural Planting.
Penelope Hobhouse is "a fixture in the minds of gardeners who love rooms and bones — the paths and walls and satisfying verticals that form the skeleton of a garden." She has designed gardens in England, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the United States. They include a garden for Elizabeth the Queen Mother, at Walmer Castle
Walmer Castle
Walmer Castle was built by Henry VIII in 1539–1540 as an artillery fortress to counter the threat of invasion from Catholic France and Spain. It was part of his programme to create a chain of coastal defences along England's coast known as the Device Forts or as Henrician Castles...
in Kent, ‘The Country Garden’ for the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
at Wisley, a renaissance-style garden in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and a garden for the fashion designer, Jil Sander
Jil Sander
Heidemarie Jiline 'Jil' Sander is a minimalist German fashion designer and the founder of the Jil Sander fashion house....
, in Germany.
She is an associate editor of Gardens Illustrated magazine.
In 1993 Penelope Hobhouse received an Award of Excellence for her book, Gardening Through the Ages from the Garden Writers Association of America.
In December 1996 she received the Royal Horticultural Society Victoria Medal of Honour, the highest award given by the RHS to British Horticulturists.
In November 1999 she received the Life Time Achievement Award from the Guild of Garden Writers.
She has an honorary degree from Birmingham University and has taught at the University of Essex
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a British campus university whose original and largest campus is near the town of Colchester, England. Established in 1963 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1965...
.
Family
Penelope Hobhouse married firstly, 17 May 1952 Paul Rodbard Hobhouse (d 1994), son of Sir Arthur HobhouseArthur Hobhouse
Sir Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse was a long-serving English local government Liberal politician, who is best remembered as the architect of the system of National parks of England and Wales....
(d 1965), of Castle Cary
Castle Cary
Castle Cary is a market town and civil parish in south Somerset, England, north west of Wincanton and south of Shepton Mallet.The town is situated on the River Cary, a tributary of the Parrett.-History:...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
; this marriage was dissolved in 1983, and she left the garden she had restored at the Hobhouse seat, Hadspen, Somerset. By Paul Hobhouse she has one daughter, Georgina Dehra Catherine (b 9 March 1953) and two sons, Niall Alexander (b 29 Aug 1954) and David Paul (b 9 Sept 1957). She moved to Tintinhull and met her second husband, Prof John Melville Malins, at a Garden History Society meeting; they married in 1983,; he died in 1992.
Known still as Penelope Hobhouse, she then lived in Bettiscombe
Bettiscombe
Bettiscombe is a hamlet in west Dorset, England, situated in the Marshwood Vale four miles west of Beaminster. The village has a population of 63 according to the United Kingdom Census 2001....
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
. She moved in September 2008 back to Hadspen, where she is starting a new garden outside her quarters which are in the yard. Her new garden is a south facing and 17m x17m( 56ft x 56ft) enclosure at the back of some converted stables surrounded by mature box hedging. It will be quite a challenge as her Bettiscombe garden was a good deal warmer than this one.