Thenford: The Creation of an English Garden

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Thenford: The Creation of an English Garden

Thenford: The Creation of an English Garden

RRP: £40.00
Price: £20
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How will it play that Lord Heseltine once squared up to a drunken lurcher, not deemed much of a threat by his bodyguards, and smacked him in the face? What comes shining through in this delightful book and also in the flesh, is just how much pleasure the Heseltines have had from watching their Thenford dream take shape' Daily Mail. Her expression hints at the weighty responsibilities she may soon shoulder alongside her husband in this new chapter for British politics. They did what they believed in, and the consequences will one day be evident,” Michael says, and falls silent again.

The Heseltines, for their part, have a laconic, almost indetectable haughtiness to their excellent manners. Michael and Anne Heseltine tell the story of how they created their extraordinary garden and arboretum at Thenford.Do you remember, when we lived at Wilton Crescent, we used to walk back from the House of Commons with your heavies, and presumably they weren’t doing their stuff this time. They are here to talk about the garden, which they love fiercely, and they are not that interested in discussing anything else – certainly not politics, as we have seen (although they will, after a slight hesitation, reveal the time that Michael punched a drunk in the face). As he was doing so, the local rector arrived and wryly observed, “I think there are going to be some changes around here.

I very much hope that one of the lessons we as a nation will learn from the last couple of years is the therapeutic effects of gardens and greenery. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Beautifully illustrated over 320 pages with both professional photographs and private family images, this personal story of the creation of an extraordinary garden will delight horticultural experts and novices alike. We’re in a living room at Thenford, the family’s grand Northamptonshire home and venue of the remarkable gardens and arboretum that are a large part of their life’s work.Gayle King shares video of Oprah Winfrey reading to her grandson Luca in a sweet 70th birthday tribute. One of the statistics that stuck with me from the book, I say, was that the Heseltines have shot a genocidal 300 grey squirrels for the protection of small birds and trees in just six months. If all this – anxiety at the influx of the great unwashed; shooting; that throne – give an impression of elitism, the Heseltines are bracingly unconcerned. EXCLUSIVEKate is reunited with her three children for the first time in two weeks after leaving hospital.

Jeremy Allen White is given the 'perfect face' based on science - so, do YOU think the actor looks more attractive? Before I go, then, I ask if the book marks an end point of sorts; if the great project of their lives is complete. At that moment, in the driveway visible through the window behind her, I see a rangy 83-year-old in corduroy trousers and purple socks, his luxuriant hair buffeted by the wind, whistling past in a golf buggy. For now, they’re describing the consequences of their great project’s exposure to the world with some of the same reluctance. We assist them in setting their prints free for future generations to access and appreciate them and their historical value.Beautifully illustrated with both professional photographs and private family images, this personal story of the creation of an extraordinary garden will delight horticultural experts and novices alike. Our first stop is the Sculpture Garden with its interconnected series of ‘rooms’ enclosed by yew and beech hedges.

Anne and Michael take me on a tour in one of their ‘his and hers’ golf buggies, which they use to visit the four corners of the gardens most evenings. In their own words, Michael and Anne Heseltine describe the ups and downs of how they set about transforming and expanding a wild, overgrown and often dilapidated woodland into the magnificent garden they have today. Thenford is an account of a horticultural transformation from a neglected wilderness, where “old trees remained where they had fallen, like sticks in a giant’s game of spillikins”, to great English gardens. The garden at Thenford has an arboretum which contains more than 3,500 different species of trees and shrubs, including rare plants which were wild-collected by well known plantsmen including Roy Lancaster OBE, Allen Coombes, Keith Rushforth and Chris Chadwell. Oh, God, the little man who’s slightly in disgrace now, but I imagine that’s why she was given the job.One of the gardens he’s proudest of is the Trough Garden, created out of a series of sheep and cattle drinking vessels, with its wisteria, rhododendrons and rare species including Aesculus hippocastanum ‘Monstrosa’, a dwarf horse chestnut, Quercus durata (leather oak) and Cypripedium reginae (showy lady’s slipper orchid). It reminds us that behind every powerful figure lies an equally remarkable partner who plays an integral role in shaping history. Taken though I am with the image of Tarzan taking potshots from the golf buggy, I suspect it’s probably mostly the work of Thenford’s dozen gardeners.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
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