Cragside is a superb Victorian
house in the North-East of England with an unusual claim to fame – it’s the first home to be lit using hydro-electric
power.
It’s also well known for other
gadgets inspired by the owner, Lord Armstrong, a Victorian inventor, innovator
and landscape genius whose engineering skills made him a fortune.
There’s a hydraulic lift for the
servants, for example, and the first electric dishwasher in the world.But some eerie personal
coincidences have made the place even more fascinating.
I’ve been working on a sequel to
The Lost Orchid, a tale of botanical skulduggery in the 1880s when orchid fever
was at its height. (Doing the research I became something of an orchid addict - see Orchidmania, a small blog of mine.)
Ferns were massively popular in Victorian England, and much
has been written about pteridomania, so I thought a fern-themed sequel would be
appropriate.
It seemed a good idea to move
the action further north and this is when I came across Cragside and its
fantastic inventions, all of which made it the perfect place for a sequel,
although I did move it to the Trossachs. I invented an owner whose wife was a
self-taught botanical expert who has developed a fondess for fronds.
After a few weeks, a plot
emerged and as things got nicely involved, I created a sketch of the property, complete
with a detailed fernery and automated watering devices.
Well, imagine my surprise when I
did finally get to visit Cragside for real and found that apart from its famous
rhododendrons and azaleas, it had the most marvellous labyrinthine fernery with
species set into grey, craggy boulders for dramatic effect.
But this was not all. During our
visit, I spotted an unusual purple flower nestling in the grass. My jaw dropped
when I realised it was an orchid. As far as I knew, Cragside was not known for
orchids, but as a paid-up orchidmaniac, I’m always on the look-out for wild
species, especially in June. I took some photographs and began to trawl the internet.
I soon convinced myself it was a northern marsh orchid, normally found in Scotland.
Thrilled, I notified the staff
at Cragside and it appears that other visitors have also noticed the little
purple orchid and now the identification has been confirmed. The Cragside conservation manager agress that it's a Dactylorhiza purpurella (what used to be Dactylorhiza majalis purpurella) - The Northern Marsh Orchid. It likes the Cragside boggy, slightly acid, soils where it thrives. Apparently, seeing my little photo certainly made his day! I have to admit to
being rather thrilled.
Orchids and ferns. Fact
imitating fiction always gives me a pleasing shiver.
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