Anyone who knows the quietly spoken Mr Connolly will know he loves using seasonal British natives to create displays that combine an artless and natural simplicity with awe-inducing results. This year, at the request of COUNTRY LIFE, he put up the decorations at Wardington Manor in Oxfordshire, where The Land Gardeners, Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld, are based. In the cutting gardens, the pair grow flowers, shrubby and woodland stems, as well as planting up containers of living bulbs for customers.
A regular visitor to the manor, Mr Connolly created decorations that enhance the ‘Jacobean meets Arts-and-Crafts’ architecture and the romantic atmosphere of the 16th-century, Grade II*-listed house. The Land Gardeners were up early, picking in the winter garden, before Mr Connolly arrived bearing gifts— a whole ball of mistletoe from his home.
Feast of flowers
Mr Connolly’s style is relaxed and versatile. To dress the manor’s dining room, he decorated tables with tarnished silverware vessels in assorted shapes and sizes, spilling with white hellebores and perfumed winter honeysuckle. Smaller containers hold individual flower stems and large ones were planted with living hellebores.
‘It’s the abundance of less, using the most beautiful seasonal flowers and making them shine,’ says Mr Connolly, who used only three bunches (20 stems each) of hellebores and snippets of honeysuckle from the garden of Wardington.
Denne historien er fra November 27, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra November 27, 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.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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
