October 2013, friend of the garden Sue Ward received a very special, yet unexpected card, the name penned at message end… ‘Beth’. It was ten years later when I first met Sue, a fortuitous meeting within our garden café. I was catching up with my mentor, the naturalist Dr Chis Gibson, discussing the wildlife projects taking place at the garden in 2025, when Chris spotted Sue across the room, and kindly introduced me. From the pleasure of this initial conversation, a truly beautiful piece of history was rediscovered, one which captures our garden’s values with most heartfelt essence. It is the story of how Sue came to be affectionately called by Beth, ‘My Dormouse Lady’.
It was several decades earlier, when Sue, acting as a warden on the nearby Essex Wildlife Trust’s Alexander Reserve, (where one of Sue’s responsibilities was leading the children’s Wildlife Watch), became involved with the creature which formed Beth’s charming moniker. 1993 was the year, and the largest voluntary wildlife survey undertaken in Europe was underway, itself named The Great Nut Hunt. The dormouse has long been a much-loved small mammal, which we are so fortunate to have native in the land we call home. Yet, the dormouse is an elusive beast, and very few people have had the opportunity to see one in the wild such is their rarity. The Great Nut Hunt was a scheme to record the distribution of this fascinating animal, by searching for a great indicator of their presence… hazel nuts!
Hazel Dormice nibble in an idiosyncratic manner, differentiating them from other nut eaters that bless our woodlands and hedgerows, so searching for these smooth, round-holed chewed nuts were the treasure all Great Nut Hunters were scanning the woodlands in hope of.
It was soon after this successful survey that Sue, now with the licensing to handle, weigh and sex the dormice, began viewing nest boxes placed in another close by woodland called Captain’s Wood. From this, Sue, and several dedicated friends, all heroes of our natural world, each taken by the devastating decline of dormice numbers, created the Essex and Suffolk Dormouse Group.
It was through this group, that in the early 2000s, Sue attended our garden, as she had done many times as a customer before, but this time, it was to survey the score of nesting tubes which had been set-up across the site. It was here, when Sue first met Beth.
Sue tells, how Beth approached her in the carpark, enquiring why she was here when the garden was closed for customers that day, and then of Beth’s true delight to find out why, asking Sue if it would be okay if she joined in examining the nesting tubes. ‘How very dare you! I replied.’ Sue tells me jokingly, before adding, ‘I felt very privileged she wanted to see what I was doing. Beth was someone I have always greatly admired.’
What happened next was a moment which touched and stayed with Beth for the rest of her life. Sue recalls, as Beth held in her hands two beautiful dormice, tears appeared in her eyes, telling Sue ‘I have worked the land for over seventy years, and I have never seen a dormouse until today.’
Chairman of Beth Chatto Plants and Garden, Julia Boulton, and Beth’s granddaughter, remembers Beth telling her and the family about this life affirming experience. ‘I know meeting Sue and seeing the dormice meant a lot to grandma. I remember her telling us about it, how excited she was that they were here, in the place she built and loved so dearly.’ And years later, we see in Beth’s own writing ‘Sue, My Dormouse Lady’ where Beth admits her memory for names isn’t enviable, but how she could never forget Sue and the special moment they had shared with the dormice.
3rd October 2013- Dear Sue Ward 'My Dormouse Lady! How lovely to meet you again!! I am very bad now at remembering names and faces, but I do remember you- and occassionally ask Gerard if he has seen you. At 90 years now I have become more frail and unable to walk far in the garden. You are most welcome to come and check us out sometime to see if we still have dormice, or should be doing anything to help them. I'm so glad you like my Notebook. Warm regards Beth.
I think now of this moment, of Beth, of Sue and the two dormice, and perhaps, at least in my mind, there is no better anecdote which accounts for the beauty and soul of this garden. Beth was known and remembered most of all for her ‘Unusual Plants’, designing her garden under the principle of ‘right plant, right place.’ And I believe through this principle administered to the flora, if it be inadvertently or not, through form, texture, proud seedheads allowed to tower through the colder months, Beth created somewhere the fauna, those unusual, the rare and those needing protection felt safe to make home.
From further conversations with Sue, we at Beth Chatto feel assured that the garden continues to provide an environment which would be suitable for dormice. Our next mission, with champions of the garden such as Sue, Julia and Chris in support, is to find definitive proof that these beautiful creatures which once brought Beth so much joy, are still here. We will be sure to keep you all updated on this journey, for it is one worth taking, one which shows aesthetic design and sustaining biodiversity are not mutually exclusive… one I am calling ‘Finding Beth’s Dormice’.
-Written by Rob Byford
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