Quiz - How Well Do You Know Elizabeth Gaskell’s House? Part 6 - elizabethgaskellhouse.co.uk elizabethgaskellhouse.co.uk

Quiz – How Well Do You Know Elizabeth Gaskell’s House? Part 6

Posted
13th July 2020
in blog, Collection, Garden, other

This six-part quiz will test your knowledge of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House. We have five questions this week, as this is our final quiz. We hope you have enjoyed the quiz.

The answers can all be found within our blogs and social media posts. You can also find some of the answers in the two blogs 10 things you might not know about Elizabeth Gaskell’s House and Six Famous Visitors to 84 Plymouth Grove.

It’s purely for fun. We won’t be scoring you – the answers are at the bottom of the page, below the picture.

Part 6 The Garden and Basement

There are three writers and contemporaries of Elizabeth Gaskell who can be found in the Garden at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House. Can you name two of them? If you can name all three, you are probably one of our garden team!
Which two types of plant link North and South and the Garden at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House?
What was Elizabeth Gaskell’s nickname? You can find it in the Garden!
We discovered a letter, written in 1853, when we were refurbishing the Coach House in 2017. Who was it sent to?
Finally – 2019 was a great year for Elizabeth Gaskell’s House! Which two awards did we win?

Answers

You can find three writers in the Garden – a Charles Dickens dahlia, a quote with the sundial by Walter Savage Landor and a quote by Charlotte Brontë in the flower bed at the side, visible from the Drawing Room window. Read more about Charles Dickens and Walter Savage Landor and Charlotte Brontë in the Garden.
Roses mostly link North and South to the Garden, but also Ferns. The rose gathered by Mr Lennox for Margaret is given colour, “some velvety cramoisy roses that were above her reach”. In Chapter 2 Margaret returns from London to Helstone, where “the fern below (the forest trees) caught all the slanting sunbeams”. Read more about North and South Roses and Ferns in the Garden.
Elizabeth’s nickname was Lily. The garden team planted martagon lilies at the front of the house. Their colour is very subtle but rich and they were planted, not only because of their attraction, but as a reference to Elizabeth’s nickname. Read more about the Lilies.
The letter we discovered was sent to Will Preston, one of the Gaskells’ servants at the time. His sisters Margaret and Mary were also servants at 84 Plymouth Grove. Our volunteer Diane Duffy uncovered more about the letter and the Preston family which you can see in our Basement. Read more about the letter.
2019 was a special year for Elizabeth Gaskell’s House. In August we were awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service and our volunteer, Jane, and Sally our manager were lucky enough to attend a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in May. You can see the award when you visit our Tea Room. In November we received a Silver Gilt award in the RHS Britain in Bloom competition within the Small Visitor Attraction category. These were both thanks to our wonderful team of volunteers. To quote Frank, our chair “we feel immensely proud of what our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer team has achieved.” And we can’t wait to continue this success when the House re-opens in mid-August. Read more about our awards in the blogs.