Romantic With An Arcadian Vision

Asking eminent landscape architect Kim Wilkie to restore the home of The Grange Opera Festival to its former glory appears a pitch perfect choice, as Viv Micklefield discovers during a sneak preview.

- Viv Micklefield

WITH the mist sticking like candyfloss to the surrounding hills, the skeletal trees and slate grey waters of the lake below barely stir. Puddles following a recent rain shower still litter the gravel drive leading towards the mighty stone columns, which sap what little heat remains in the day. Yet extending a warm handshake, as he walks down the steps of The Grange, Kim Wilkie appears undeterred by the inclement weather.

“I actually love it when it’s like this, because there’s a real softness to the landscape,” Kim enthuses, instantly revealing an empathy with the natural environment which has become a hallmark of his work. Pointing out the various elements at play, including the feature bridge designed by Robert Adam, he explains: “Here, it’s a case of understanding where the land folds and the water flows, and of just working with the underlying topography. That’s what the English Landscape movement was all about: having a fully functioning agricultural estate and, at the same time, making it look beautiful.”

So, just as The Grange Festival 2017 marks a new beginning, under recently appointed artistic director Michael Chance, the surrounding 600-acre parkland is also undergoing the initial phase of a major facelift, in time for June’s opening opera performance.

The man charged with stripping back the layers of landscaping history, dating from the 1760s under Robert Henley, 1st Lord Northington, talks of the need to allow the memory and imagination of what has gone before, to inspire fresh design. “I was aware of The Grange estate,” says Kim, “But then did a huge amount of research in the archives at the Hampshire Record Office.”