Thenford: The Creation of an English Garden

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Thenford House is an Italianate mansion, but it’s the grounds that have been the main focus of Michael’s energy away from politics over the last four decades.

Thenford is an account of a horticultural transformation from a neglected wilderness, where “old trees remained where they had fallen, like sticks in a giant’s game of spillikins”, to great English gardens. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). Beautifully illustrated with both professional photographs and private family images, this personal story of the creation of an extraordinary garden will delight horticultural experts and novices alike. Accepting that the killer line about Boris that I had secretly hoped for is not about to materialise – I mean, earlier this year Michael described his Henley constituency successor as “a general who marches his army to the sound of the guns and the moment he sees the battleground he abandons it”, for God’s sake – I find myself babbling out of awkwardness. But Michael is king in the garden because his knowledge of plants has always been so much better than mine.At that moment, in the driveway visible through the window behind her, I see a rangy 83-year-old in corduroy trousers and purple socks, his luxuriant hair buffeted by the wind, whistling past in a golf buggy. As Michael drives me to Banbury train station in his Jaguar, I ask him if he thinks he’s more likely to be remembered for his achievements in politics or his arboretum and garden. Feeling embarrassed about my firm position in the latter camp, I talk ruefully about my own back garden, whose state of disrepair can be summarised by the ominous weed that keeps sliding in under the back door.

We started with an aviary, then there was this little stream, and then we made some ponds …” On the list goes.But the gardens have brought Anne and I enormous solace over the years, particularly during the lockdowns. In this print from November 1990, we catch a glimpse of Anne Heseltine, the wife of Michael Heseltine MP. Please remember it can take some time for your bank or credit card company to process and post the refund too. The value of original Press Photos prints has been steadily increasing in value and is expected to to continue doing so. This personal story of the creation of an extraordinary garden will delight horticultural experts and novices alike.

For now, they’re describing the consequences of their great project’s exposure to the world with some of the same reluctance. Do you remember, when we lived at Wilton Crescent, we used to walk back from the House of Commons with your heavies, and presumably they weren’t doing their stuff this time. What comes shining through in this delightful book and also in the flesh, is just how much pleasure the Heseltines have had from watching their Thenford dream take shape' Daily Mail.

Among the mainly modern British sculptures on show are Elisabeth Frink’s naked Standing Man (‘he’s the husband of an acquaintance of mine’, she comments) and Philip Jackson’s Reading Chaucer (a young woman in a medieval gown and pointed hat seated on a bench with a book). EXCLUSIVEKate is reunited with her three children for the first time in two weeks after leaving hospital. Now the Heseltines want more people to enjoy the peace, tranquillity and beauty of Thenford so they’ve extended the number of opening days this year.