Gathering ideas at Thenford House

A trip with the Garden Media Guild to Lord and Lady Heseltine’s thought-provoking garden at Thenford House.

Head gardener Darren Webster describes the gardens at Thenford House as a “collection of ideas”. It’s certainly an apt summing up. Classic set pieces, novel interpretations and a few surprises, this is a garden that cannot be easily pigeon-holed.

We were impressed by the meticulous way this rose is trained.

Around the house, there’s classic English country style with deep borders showing welcome colour on a wet October morning.

Sculpture and views at Thenford House.

There’s a small rose garden, and woodland where the trees are beginning to take on autumn colour. The only clue that this is a garden with a big personality comes from the striking sculpture set in front of the view over open countryside.

This acer was already beginning to colour up for autumn.

Lord and Lady Heseltine bought the property near Banbury 46 years ago, taking on what Lady Heseltine remembers as “a wilderness”.

“You couldn’t walk through it for elder, holly and lots of sycamore. There was a stream that ran through but no ponds.”

A woodland view at Thenford House.
The garden is known for its trees and shrubs.

Since then they’ve added to the grounds – Thenford now covers 70 acres – creating lakes, a water garden and a notable collection of trees and shrubs.

It’s a garden that’s been developed without an overall masterplan. Rather it’s grown piecemeal with a new project most years.

Although many of these projects are fairly standard – a rill, a walled garden, sculpture – they all have something that makes them individual.

The heart of the Walled Garden.

The Walled Garden does have traditional fruit, veg, cutting flowers and glasshouses stuffed with pot plants and exotics, yet these are set against geometric lawns and sheets of reflecting water.

A great colour partnership.

I liked the way pale dahlias were beautifully contrasted by dark kale.

The Rill at Thenford House.
The rill is one of the stand-out features.

The Rill Garden, a long series of fountains and falls, is eye-catching because of its sheer scale, although dependent on water levels being high enough for it to run properly. That wasn’t a problem for our visit.

The Trough Garden at Thenford House.
The Trough Garden.

Lord Heseltine’s favourite area is the Trough Garden, a collection of granite sinks and troughs that allow him to grow tiny treasures and plants that have specific soil requirements.

One of the entrances to the Trough Garden.

Entry is through rather striking gates. Indeed, gates and entrances are a feature in the garden with an eclectic mix of styles.

An archway into the Water Garden.

There’s sculpture throughout Thenford and a dedicated maze-like Sculpture Garden with pieces set in ‘rooms’ backed by high hedges.

Lenin took us all by surprise.

Rounding a hedge to be confronted by Lenin took many of us by surprise. Manoeuvring the 7.5 tonne sculpture into place was a mammoth task we were told.

Part of the original herbaceous borders.

Darren, who heads up a gardening team of 10, says the garden is still developing. This year’s project was creating new herbaceous borders opposite original herbaceous planting.

The new herbaceous planting is beginning to fill out.

And even when there’s no new scheme the team are always tweaking existing ideas to perfect them: “It’s about being big enough and bold enough to do something and then admit it’s gone wrong and change it.”

One of the quirky pieces of artwork.

Thenford is a very personal garden and, as such, it’s unlikely that every element will please every visitor. Yet, it’s thought-proving and interesting and I was only sad that the bad weather curtailed our visit. A return trip is definitely needed.

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