Levens Hall Reveals Much Ado About Garden Conversations

Levens Hall and Gardens is hoping a forthcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing will truly resonate with the audience, because of the plot twists and turns found in the Shakespearean play and the historic context of its own Jacobean gardens.

The historic house, which has a towering 50-metre-long and over 300-years-old Beech hedge, and a secluded Beech Circle enclosed by the hedge, is well aware gardens were a place in which major secrets were shared and conversations overheard.

This is very much part of the plot of Much Ado About Nothing, due to be performed by the popular Handlebards, on September 6.  Some significant moments involve characters deliberately providing false information, whilst conducting conversations within gardens.  Aware the person they wish to mislead is hiding in the garden, they raise their voices, to ensure they are overhead.

Such instances occur in Act 2 Scene 3 and Act 3, Scene 1, as trickery is waged to try to convince the characters Benedick and Beatrice that each one loves the other.

Much Ado About Nothing is full of misdirection and attempts to mislead, making it a highly engaging play that keeps the audience on its toes.

At Levens Hall, it could well have its perfect home, as the gardens have also sheltered secrets in the past.  Accounts suggest the recipe for the Hall’s famed Morocco Ale may have been hidden in a lead box in the gardens during the English Civil War.  There is also a possibility that the elusive first head gardener, Guillaume Beaumont was more than just a gardener and, perhaps, like many of past times, passing secrets to and forth.

Picking up on such secrets was relatively easy for a gardener to do, especially as gardens were places in which people let their guard down and had important conversations.  They were not always deliberately trying to mislead those in hiding, as in Shakespeare’s play, but simply unaware that someone was eavesdropping.

And it would seem that eavesdropping is just as common today, as in Shakespeare’s time. Levens Hall and Gardens also reveals that 28% of Brits and 35% of women have eavesdropped on someone else’s conversation whilst in a garden.

Much Ado About Nothing at Levens Hall and Gardens will start at 5pm on Saturday, September 6 and ticket-holders can arrive from 4pm.  Tickets cost £20.50 (or £13 for 13-21-year-olds and £5 for 6-12 years) and can be bought at https://www.handlebards.com/show/much-ado-about-nothing-levens-hall/  The performance will end at around 7pm.

Outdoor theatre-goers should bring a blanket or cushions to sit on but should leave the umbrella at home, as brollies block the view of the performance.  Picnics are permitted but Levens Kitchen will be open and serving a large selection of food, drink and ice creams to those wanting delicious food and the convenience of not having to keep a picnic fresh.

Levens Kitchen offers hugely popular eat-in and takeaway options, from an award-winning team with the knack of catering perfectly for those enjoying events at Levens Hall and Gardens.  They too have their own ‘secrets’, as revealed in a podcast by head chef, Robert Stacey and available here – https://bit.ly/4fPBMmm

Whilst Shakespeare’s play is sure to delight everyone, perhaps those who appreciate the garden eavesdropping the most will be visitors from the south east.  This is where most garden eavesdropping has taken place, with 37% of people in the region saying they have done it.

Find out more about Levens Hall at www.levenshall.co.uk                                       

Notes to editors

Research findings taken from a survey of 1000 adults, by Censuswide, in April 2025.

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Editors notes

Levens Hall & Gardens is a historic house in the South Lakes, Cumbria, close to Kendal and home to the world's oldest topiary gardens, dating from 1694, created by French garden designer, Guillaume Beaumont. The Hall is a stunning Elizabethan house built around a 13th century pele tower and has close links to the Duke of Wellington, as well as various items which once belonged to him and Napoleon Bonaparte. Levens Park is home to the rare Bagot goats gifted to the Bagot family and a place in which to stroll and enjoy nature. Levens Kitchen is the contemporary new cafe, full of delights for cake lovers and foodies alike.