Thenford: The Creation of an English Garden

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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. So there's that wonderful moment when there are primroses, snowdrops and forgetmenots altogether in the spring garden, and it’s suddenly a sea of bloom. We’re in a living room at Thenford, the family’s grand Northamptonshire home and venue of the remarkable gardens and arboretum that are a large part of their life’s work. If all this – anxiety at the influx of the great unwashed; shooting; that throne – give an impression of elitism, the Heseltines are bracingly unconcerned. Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages.

She didn’t know anything about gardening at all, which was rather a pity, and she kept wanting to bring Michael back to politics. It’s been a labour of love,’ admits Lord Heseltine, 89, who enjoyed a long career in front line politics.Today, there are about 13,000 varieties of plant catalogued here, among them 3,000 trees and shrubs in the arboretum, 400 different roses, 370 oaks and 342 snowdrops, which, I am almost certain, are those little white ones. Anne Heseltine wife of Michael Heseltine MP pictured in November 1990 when it was thought her husband might take over from Mrs Thatcher resulting in a mirror image of her being installed at No.

Full of rich photography, it is a celebration of four decades of horticultural triumphs and disasters .

Some years ago, a journalist went to interview Lord Michael and Lady Anne Heseltine about their garden. Now Anne, too, has a distinctly sceptical look; despite the tea and biscuits recently provided by a servant summoned by telephone, the atmosphere has chilled. Gayle King shares video of Oprah Winfrey reading to her grandson Luca in a sweet 70th birthday tribute.

With his wife Anne, the former Tory minister has gone from swinging the mace in the Commons to running one of the great English gardens. Oh, God, the little man who’s slightly in disgrace now, but I imagine that’s why she was given the job. Her expression hints at the weighty responsibilities she may soon shoulder alongside her husband in this new chapter for British politics. How will it play that Lord Heseltine once squared up to a drunken lurcher, not deemed much of a threat by his bodyguards, and smacked him in the face?

Although my favourite garden is the cascading rill, a stunning water feature comprising nine interconnected pools. As he was doing so, the local rector arrived and wryly observed, “I think there are going to be some changes around here. In their own words, Michael and Anne Heseltine describe the ups and downs of how they set about transforming and expanding a wild, overgrown and often dilapidated woodland into the magnificent garden they have today. An image arrives of a prehistoric political titan, mace in hand, doggedly propelling his stone-age vehicle onwards with his feet.

I run my hand over the list of questions about the state of the Conservative party and her husband’s forceful interventions in the Brexit debate that I’ve written down on my way here, smile back, and try to think of something intelligent to say about snowdrops. Please remember it can take some time for your bank or credit card company to process and post the refund too.This print is more than just visual art; it encapsulates historical intrigue and invites viewers to ponder on what could have been while appreciating the timeless elegance displayed by Anne Heseltine herself. They describe the ups and downs of how they set about transforming and expanding a wild, overgrown and often dilapidated woodland at Thenford into the magnificent garden they have today.