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Speaker 1: Just when you think you've heard of every crazy job

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Speaker 1: there's ever been, here's a new one for you. Okay,

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Speaker 1: if you're like me, there's a good chance you love

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Speaker 1: the tranquility of just being out in nature. But what

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Speaker 1: if you could literally live in a beautiful garden. You

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Speaker 1: could dress like a mess. I do that all the time.

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Speaker 1: Do no work? Well, I work and get money a

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Speaker 1: little house and food just to live that way. This

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Speaker 1: was a real job description on some massive estates back

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Speaker 1: in the seventeenth, eighteenth and a little bit of the

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Speaker 1: nineteenth century in France, Italy and England. How nuts is that?

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Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele from Real Live Ornamental Hermits to the

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Speaker 1: beloved garden Nome. Next on the backstory. We're back with

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Speaker 1: the backstory. Can you imagine living in a massive estate

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Speaker 1: in gardens in seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe, gorgeous surroundings,

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Speaker 1: room and board, all paid for and really no work

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Speaker 1: at all. Well, a guy known only by the name

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Speaker 1: mister Remington took a job like that back in the

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Speaker 1: eighteenth century, and he wasn't alone except in the garden. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was a popular job back then in England, particularly

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Speaker 1: because all the rage among wealthy aristocrats to have your

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Speaker 1: very own ornamental hermit kind of hidden out in your garden. Now.

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Speaker 1: A perfect example is mister Remington's employer, Charles Hamilton, whose

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Speaker 1: dad was an earl. Charles was an eighteenth century British

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Speaker 1: aristocrat and member of Parliament. Like a lot of rich

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Speaker 1: young guys, after finishing up school at Oxford, he went

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Speaker 1: on a grand tour of Europe for months and months

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Speaker 1: and parts of Asia, and while running around he collected

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Speaker 1: statues and paintings from all over. So when he got

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Speaker 1: home to England, he bought land and he built his

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Speaker 1: estate called pains Hill. So he has all these ancient

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Speaker 1: artifacts in his luggage right, and he's fallen in love

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Speaker 1: with Italian and French romance and the beauty of nature.

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Speaker 1: His idea was to take some of the exotic plants

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Speaker 1: he'd seen and create what he called living paintings in

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Speaker 1: a new and very different kind of a garden, less

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Speaker 1: of the neatly manicured gardens of the past and more

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Speaker 1: of the wild, informal gardens that were becoming hugely popular

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Speaker 1: among the young rich. He called it the Pleasure Grounds

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Speaker 1: at Paines Hill. The garden had a path to follow,

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Speaker 1: so if you were a guest, you could become emotionally

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Speaker 1: involved and experience all sorts of moods as you walked

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Speaker 1: around Charles living painting. He built a fourteen acre serpentine

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Speaker 1: lake with a ton of bridges and a water wheel

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Speaker 1: to bring water to the lake from a nearby river.

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Speaker 1: He had Greek style temples built and the crystal Grotto,

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Speaker 1: a man made cave. There were natural woodlands, vineyards of

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Speaker 1: ruined abbey and towers, but it wasn't enough. He needed

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Speaker 1: something more. So he took out a wand ad and

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Speaker 1: was really explicit in what he was looking for. He

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Speaker 1: wanted an ornamental hermit to live on the hundreds of

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Speaker 1: acres of gardens at his estate. Now, the hermit had

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Speaker 1: to remain silent, never even talking to the servants who

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Speaker 1: brought him his meals every day. He had to wear

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Speaker 1: a goat's hair robe and never cut his hair, nails,

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Speaker 1: or beard, and never bathe. Yuck. Now that would be

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Speaker 1: a no go for me. And shoes were a total

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Speaker 1: no no, out of the question. He sounds kind of

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Speaker 1: like a teenager right now. In many cases, on other estates,

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Speaker 1: the hermit had a more involved job they'd be asked

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Speaker 1: to remain permanently on site, but they'd be fed and

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Speaker 1: cared for, and also consulted for advice, counseling, prayer sessions

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Speaker 1: and inspirational chats. Of course, all of this was for

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Speaker 1: the entertainment of family and guests. Now in some cases,

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Speaker 1: as with Charles Hamilton's hermit they were told not to

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Speaker 1: communicate with visitors and just be part of the scenery.

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Speaker 1: They were living garden ornaments. Hey, it was a job, right.

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Speaker 1: Mister Remington liked the idea, and he applied for the

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Speaker 1: job at pains Hill. If he lived up to the

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Speaker 1: terms of his contract, living in solitary contemplation without stepping

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Speaker 1: foot outside of the estate for seven years, he'd lived

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Speaker 1: for free and finally receive up to in today's money,

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Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty thousand bucks. While mister Remington was hired, however,

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Speaker 1: he lasted just a fraction of that time. In fact,

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Speaker 1: three weeks after moving into the hermitage, he was found

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Speaker 1: drinking at a local pub. He got the boot. No

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Speaker 1: word on whether he was replaced by someone more reliable.

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Speaker 1: Mister Remington was one of a handful of men to

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Speaker 1: cash in on or try to cash in on the

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Speaker 1: ornamental hermit craze. The short lived trend peaked around the

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Speaker 1: mid sixteen hundreds ended around eighteen thirty. During that time,

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Speaker 1: wealthy estate owners wanted wild, untamed gardens to inspire people

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Speaker 1: through nature. They built these gardens around caves, mountains, aviaries,

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Speaker 1: and zoos whose filled with exotic animals. But the hermitage

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Speaker 1: with live hermits was the ultimate, the must have for

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Speaker 1: those who could afford it. It was basically about wealthy

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Speaker 1: people who lived in the lap of luxury wanting some

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Speaker 1: connection to the simple life without actually giving up all

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Speaker 1: the luxury. It's a little bit like Marie Antoinette escaping

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Speaker 1: to the peasant village she built at Versailles. Right, As

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Speaker 1: one observer wrote, nothing could give such delight to the

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Speaker 1: eye as the spectacle of an aged person with a

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Speaker 1: long gray beard and a rough robe, doddering about amongst

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Speaker 1: the discomforts and the pleasures of nature. As garden and

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Speaker 1: estate fashions evolved, live hermits became, I don't know, kind

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Speaker 1: of passe. There were even more statues, water features, and

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Speaker 1: elaborate flower gardens, as well as exotic tree landscapes, and finally,

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Speaker 1: the live hermits were banished altogether, and the much less

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Speaker 1: expensive but far less interesting stone and eventual plastic garden

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Speaker 1: nomes arrived. I guess you get your inspiration wherever you

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Speaker 1: can write, and by the way, you can actually still

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Speaker 1: visit the pains Hill Gardens if you're ever in the neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: It's in Combham, England. I hope you like the Backstory

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Speaker 1: with Patty Steele. I would love it if you would

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Speaker 1: subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically,

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Speaker 1: and feel free to dm me if you have a

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Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty

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Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Reel Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.

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Speaker 1: The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis

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Speaker 1: Duran Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.

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Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday

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Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with

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Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty

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Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening

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Speaker 1: to the back Story with Patty Steele. The pieces of

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Speaker 1: history you didn't know you needed to know