Letter from G. Jekyll [Gertrude Jekyll] to William Robinson
Information
Title
Letter from G. Jekyll [Gertrude Jekyll] to William Robinson
Record type
Archive
Original Reference
WRO/2/084
Date
12 Dec 1883
Scope & content
Written from Capri, [Italy]. Manuscript
She thanks him for sending ‘Woods and Forests’; she wishes he could have a holiday like she is having, on an island with magnificent natural features, charming inhabitants and invigorating air; she is usually a bad walker but she is up and down rocky steps all day; it is intoxicating to be in a wilderness of olive, myrtle, orange and prickly pear, and ground cover comprising smilax, cyclamens and rosemary; caution is necessary as one comes suddenly upon cliff edges; she hopes to bring home some useful plants, and is using her tool to extract Campanula fragilis which abounds near the sea; she can send Lithospermum rosmarinifolium if he knows anyone who would like some; he would like the Capri houses, simple and solid, the rooms vaulted in solid masonry and whitewashed; roofs are flat to catch rainwater stored in underground cisterns built by the Romans; the houses give the place an oriental look; she believes Frederick Dowding is a pleasant man, and Harris thought well of him. Written from Capri, [Italy]. Manuscript
She thanks him for sending ‘Woods and Forests’; she wishes he could have a holiday like she is having, on an island with magnificent natural features, charming inhabitants and invigorating air; she is usually a bad walker but she is up and down rocky steps all day; it is intoxicating to be in a wilderness of olive, myrtle, orange and prickly pear, and ground cover comprising smilax, cyclamens and rosemary; caution is necessary as one comes suddenly upon cliff edges; she hopes to bring home some useful plants, and is using her tool to extract Campanula fragilis which abounds near the sea; she can send Lithospermum rosmarinifolium if he knows anyone who would like some; he would like the Capri houses, simple and solid, the rooms vaulted in solid masonry and whitewashed; roofs are flat to catch rainwater stored in underground cisterns built by the Romans; the houses give the place an oriental look; she believes Frederick Dowding is a pleasant man, and Harris thought well of him