Country diary: Orchids, plums and pine cones – all bursting out of cathedral walls | Nic Wilson

<p><strong>St Albans Cathedral, Hertfordshire: </strong>The chapel here is a wonderful curiosity, thanks to its restoration by a green-fingered Victorian sculptor</p><p>All’s quiet in the Lady Chapel, sheltered from the bustle of the city by thick limestone walls of <a href="https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Totternhoe/TotternhoeStoneQuarry.aspx">Totternhoe clunch</a>, quarried just a few miles north-west in Bedfordshire. But though I’m aware of being alone in a vast vaulted space, when I look at the stonework, I feel surrounded by the echoes of women who’ve stood here before me and left their legacy on the chapel walls.</p><p>By the late 19th century, the Lady Chapel was dilapidated, the 14th-century ornamental stonework almost all obliterated, and an extensive restoration project was under way. John Baker, a London-based ecclesiastical sculptor, was commissioned to recreate the decorative capitals, bosses and corbels on the arches. Baker, known for his naturalistic masonry work, asked the ladies of the parish to bring in plants as models, perhaps to help him replace botanical carvings from the original medieval stonework.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/10/country-diary-orchids-plums-and-pine-cones-all-bursting-out-of-cathedral-walls">Continue reading...</a>