Sean Reid, head gardener to the National Trust gardens at Ickwoth, is eager to trace anyone who might have known the gardener at Ickworth between 1900 and 1930.
The appeal follows the discovery of a gardeners' notebook during a wet day clear out the estate sheds.
The notebook is a hand written account of activities that took place in the estate gardens, including detailed weather records, a planting list including all of the varieties - long since lost - of fruit trees and species that were planted - it is said that the work is penned by more than one person.
The information in the book is helping National Trust volunteers build up a picture of when the orchards were in their 'heyday' by adding details to an ordnance survey map of 1880's.
Sean Reid said of the find, "We’ve wanted to reinstate some of the fruit trees here for a long time and were already in the process of deciding what to do when my colleague Cath Mobbs made this incredible discovery.
"It means that we don’t have to make blind guesses and can now be really true to how Ickworth was created to be in future work. Any gardener would kill for this kind of information, it’s amazing to think it’s just been sitting there all these years."
Contact the National Trust if you think you could help.
Hi Sean,
I want to get in touch with your sister Jo who I worked with many years ago at what was Hayward’s Pickles in Bury St Edmunds.
She worked in the lab with me and went on to study physio I think.
I would love to hear how she is doing now.
Give her my best regards Jo Taylor
Posted by: Jo TYlor | Sep 19, 2018 at 08:57 PM