THERE have been gardens and pleasure grounds at Miserden in the Cotswolds for nearly four centuries. The 3,000-acre estate —including the handsome, late-17th-century gabled manor house that looks down over its own richly wooded parkland in the Golden Valley—has been in the family since 1913. It is now run by Nicholas Wills, who, after reading agriculture at Newcastle University and serving for a decade with the Coldstream Guards, took over from his father, Maj Tom Wills, in 2016.
‘Every aspect of the estate has been up for review,’ says Nicholas. As well as continuing to energise the farm and the mostly familyowned village of Miserden, he has had to think carefully about the direction of the garden. His long-term goal is to ‘create a lifetime plan of things I would like to do and to slowly implement it over my time here. I don’t want to ruin the atmosphere of the garden, but, at the same time, I feel it’s got to adapt and change’.
When his great-grandparents arrived here, they began laying out the 11-acre garden in the fashionable Arts-and-Crafts style of the day, creating outdoor rooms divided by stone steps and yew hedges and adding a glorious range of greenhouses to the extensive kitchen garden.
After a substantial house fire in 1919, Edwin Lutyens was invited to redesign the east wing, adding an elegant loggia with arched bays (based on the Villa Medici in Fiesole, near Florence in Tuscany), which leads out onto the spacious terrace.
Lutyens became a frequent visitor to Miserden, designing the village war memorial, among other elements, and it was almost definitely his idea to shape the now maturing 100-yard double hedge of yew so that it echoes the rounded openings of the loggia.
Denne historien er fra September 18, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 18, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
