Lawnmower to Legacy - Garden Museum

Posted on 2 Jul 2026

Garden Museum Collection

Kay Preston-Wilkes came across a poster for a Ransomes mower in the Garden Museum one afternoon - the same "beloved" model used by her father during her childhood. She offered it to the museum, where it sits proudly on display in our permanent gallery. Here, she recounts the mower's story and significance, and shares her decision to leave a legacy gift to the museum.

“I first came across the Garden Museum when I was training to be a garden designer at Reading University around the turn of the century. My cohort and I came to Lambeth for a talk and discovered the wonder that is the Garden Museum. This was before the refit, when you took a cuppa from the café and perched on a tomb in the churchyard and marvelled at the oasis of green calm so close to the very centre of London.

Over the following years I visited on and off. I saw the growth of the collection and the transformation of the church into the modern airy spacious venue it is today. I also saw the effects of the outreach programme and marvelled at the superb work done.

Then, one day, my husband and I spotted a poster on the upper floor. I delighted in the fact that it showed my father’s beloved (and much-used) Ransomes mower. Nostalgia filled me with memories of Sundays in my youth, working with Dad in the garden – I have been a gardener since before I could walk! The smell of newly cut grass, the quiet satisfaction at the end of a day: a pot of tea, sit down and survey the results of the hard work. Ahh! Happy memories. On the way out, almost as an afterthought, I casually tossed across the Welcome desk, “Would you like the lawnmower to go with that poster upstairs?”

The lovely volunteer immediately sprang into action and it turned out that yes, Christopher (Museum Director) and Emma (Curator) were interested in my dad’s lawnmower. (Not all lawnmowers I hasten to add … but this very specific model filled a gap in the collection.) I was overjoyed. Then Covid-19 struck and it took a while before we could affect the handover. It was still in use in our garden until the week before!

As we live in Wiltshire, we don’t come up to London that often, but I find that these days we tend to build a trip to the City around a visit to the Garden Museum. Not just to check in with the lawnmower, but to view the excellent and varied exhibitions, sample the delights of the café, and listen to informative and diverse talks.

My husband gifts me membership each year and over time I have become more and more interested in the amazing work done: the Garden Museum reaches across social and cultural divides, filling gaps left by inadequate school curriculums.

It provides mental health benefits for many local people and has a superb outreach programme, as well as being the only museum dedicated to the art and science of Garden Design. We found ourselves asking how else we could support this laudable endeavour.

That’s when we came to the idea of leaving a legacy: a gift in our wills that we know will make a difference to the museum, to further its valuable work and its recipients. It’s tempting to think of the big beasts in the charity world when thinking about legacy giving but we thought it was better to give to a smaller charity where our gift can really make a difference.

We are very happy knowing that our gift will help this small but perfectly formed centre of gardening excellence. Perhaps you might like to consider this way of supporting the museum too?”

– Kay Preston-Wilkes

Kitty Cooke, the Garden Museum’s Individual Giving Manager, says:

“As an independent charity, even modest gifts can be transformational, and by remembering the Garden Museum in your will, you can help to bring the joy of gardening to life for future generations.”

To learn more about leaving the Garden Museum a legacy, or to let us know if you have remembered the Garden Museum in your will, please get in touch at legacy@gardenmuseum.org.uk.

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