OVER the past century, our Kings and Queens have made their own mark on British gardens and gardening. Queen Mary, consort of George V, took great delight in pulling ivy away from tree trunks when she stayed at Badminton House in Gloucestershire during the Second World War. George VI was keen on rhododendrons, working with Sir Eric Savill to develop the Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park and Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe to design a series of garden rooms at Sandringham in Norfolk. His widow, Queen Elizabeth, created her own sanctuary, after the King’s death, at the Castle of Mey in Caithness and closer to home at Royal Lodge in the Great Park, where she spent her weekends.
Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh left their own stamp on the gardens at Windsor Castle where, as Prince Philip informed me, he ‘redesigned the East Terrace, including the fountain in the middle’, and supervised the laying out of a ‘sitting-out garden’ beneath the terrace walls. At Balmoral, he ‘redesigned almost the entire garden, except for the formal rose beds directly west of the castle’.
All these endeavours contributed to the personal enjoyment of the sovereigns and their consorts, but they also emphasised the importance of gardens and gardening, regardless of rank and stature. Gardening has always been a great leveller and, whether the participant lives in a castle with thousands of acres or in rented accommodation with a nearby allotment, growing plants to enrich our lives both mentally and physically and, in so doing, benefiting the natural world is undeniably life-enhancing.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 26, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 26, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
