PARCEVALL HALL is an unlikely place to find a great garden. It stands on a valley side in a quiet corner of the Yorkshire Dales, tucked away down a lane amid a landscape of moor and fell. The approach from the friendly market town of Skipton leads through deliciously romantic scenery, reaching its climax at the evocative ruin of Barden Tower. Those who are unmoved by such places should stop reading now.
The clue to this desire to live apart from the world lies in the personality of Sir William Milner, whose garden this was. He bought the Parcevall estate in 1927, when he was 34 years old, and made it his life’s work to adapt it to his own enthusiasms and yearnings. When he found it, the ruggedly handsome 17th-century yeoman farmhouse was protected by the usual big tree here and there, but was otherwise exposed to the elements. Although he added thoughtfully to the house, the most dramatic change he made was the sheltered woodland atmosphere around it, which has enabled such beauty to be cultivated here.
Sir William was something of a curiosity. He had private means and applied his spending handsomely to various causes that interested him. Chief among these was the building of a new Shrine Church at Walsingham in Norfolk, which he designed jointly with his partner/architect Romilly Craze. Sir William was himself engaged on a kind of lifelong pilgrimage towards an especially High Church Anglican faith, which subtly pervades Parcevall. Although determinedly ascetic, he liked home comforts and was particularly fond of taking breakfast in bed, surrounded by the paraphernalia of his ongoing projects.
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