Helen Allingham

History time.

And today, a woman you've probably never heard of, Helen Allingham.

And yet there's a fair chance she shaped the way you picture England.

Indeed, I'm going to stick my neck out.

Helen Allingham helped invent our dream of England.

She painted cottages.

Now that doesn't sound especially promising, does it? Cottages.

Except here's the thing.

And as you mentioned, they used some paintings.

Those were watercolors by a Victorian artist called Helen Allingham.

Yeah.

And apparently, apparently she was a friend of the Tennysons, so she used to go and stay and painted the garden.