Thenford: The Creation of an English Garden

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The ultimate Valentine's Day countdown - here are 10 romantic gestures to help sweep your partner off their feet! He swiped cuttings from the prime minister’s country retreat, Chequers (Edward Heath visited, as did John Major, David Cameron, the American ambassador during the Westland affair, Prince Charles, and any number of other grandees; Margaret Thatcher never did), and she chose sculptures by Lynn Chadwick and Elisabeth Frink. 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.

Who knows how long he’ll be: being out in the garden at Thenford is not like being out in most gardens. Although my favourite garden is the cascading rill, a stunning water feature comprising nine interconnected pools. Now Anne, too, has a distinctly sceptical look; despite the tea and biscuits recently provided by a servant summoned by telephone, the atmosphere has chilled.In this print from November 1990, we catch a glimpse of Anne Heseltine, the wife of Michael Heseltine MP. So there's that wonderful moment when there are primroses, snowdrops and forgetmenots altogether in the spring garden, and it’s suddenly a sea of bloom. Before I go, then, I ask if the book marks an end point of sorts; if the great project of their lives is complete. Her expression hints at the weighty responsibilities she may soon shoulder alongside her husband in this new chapter for British politics.

Feeling embarrassed about my firm position in the latter camp, I talk ruefully about my own back garden, whose state of disrepair can be summarised by the ominous weed that keeps sliding in under the back door. With the Tarzan-and-Jane era more or less behind them – while he was swinging that mace in the cabinet and carving out a niche as the best Conservative prime minister that never was, she was on the boards of four major museums – the Heseltines have finally written the book that they have talked about for years. 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. We assist them in setting their prints free for future generations to access and appreciate them and their historical value.

But the gardens have brought Anne and I enormous solace over the years, particularly during the lockdowns. But now they are on the run and, as a result, says Anne, “we are hearing and seeing all sorts of birds that we didn’t before. For now, they’re describing the consequences of their great project’s exposure to the world with some of the same reluctance. The image was captured during a time when speculation ran rampant that her husband might assume the role of Prime Minister, succeeding Mrs. 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.

As he was doing so, the local rector arrived and wryly observed, “I think there are going to be some changes around here. Since the photos are old press photographs they may have scratches, lines, or other wears of time, which just underlines the authenticity and age of the photos. The value of original Press Photos prints has been steadily increasing in value and is expected to to continue doing so.This momentous occasion led to an intriguing scenario: a mirror image of Anne being installed at No. Among the mainly modern British sculptures on show are Elisabeth Frink’s naked Standing Man (‘he’s the husband of an acquaintance of mine’, she comments) and Philip Jackson’s Reading Chaucer (a young woman in a medieval gown and pointed hat seated on a bench with a book). 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?

These high-quality greeting cards offer a unique and intriguing glimpse into British political history, making them a must-have for history enthusiasts and collectors alike. The idea behind Thenford was ‘to create a set of gardens that are like different rooms’, says Michael.I don’t mean to be crass, but Michael Heseltine’s loo is an actual throne: a gigantic wooden chair with arms and a wicker seat that you have to lift to discover its true purpose. Love Island All Stars fans slam Liberty Poole for crying over Mitchel Taylor again despite pair's bitter split: 'They broke up like 10 times! All our press photos are LIMITED ARCHIVE ORIGINALS - they are the actual prints that were used by the newspapers, they are not reprints or digital prints produced by us.