Welcome to England's Most Beautiful Garden | Iford Manor & Gardens Pt 1

foreign into the British aristocracy it was the start of a wonderfully exciting Journey but it was also a little daunting I became a VI Countess and for an American girl from a small town outside Chicago that was quite a shock I live with my husband Luke heir to the Earl of Sandwich and our family at mapperton house endorsed it mapperton is a glorious sandstone house dating originally from the 1540s it is known as Britain's Finest manor house and it is full of wonderful Treasures collected by Luke's ancestors living in a place like this is a joy but also a challenge and every day we're aware that we're preserving a very special part of Britain's heritage mapperton has opened up an extraordinary new world for me and I can't wait to share it with you all [Music] so if you love castles and manners and stately homes as much as I do please join me as I head off to visit some of Britain's most spectacular historic homes on these trips I'll be meeting other owners who manage these large houses and Estates as well as some of the Fantastic people who work there too with them I'll be exploring the history the Landscapes and the Innovations of generations past and present and I particularly Keen to meet the remarkable women who like me have married into these families bringing new ideas energy and More Than A Touch of style [Music] I'll be sure to roll up my sleeves and help out with a few jobs along the way is there a snake in here yeah what so please join this American VI Countess as I journey into the British Countryside in search of some of Britain's Finest historic houses [Applause] [Music] I'm here at iford Manor today and I'm visiting our great friends William and Marianne I've been to the house before but I've never properly explored the gardens so that is what I'm about to do thank you nestled in a secluded Valley on the Wiltshire Somerset Border in Southwest England iford Manor boasts one of Britain's most beautiful historic Gardens during my visit I'll be in deep water with the head Gardener Troy is there a snake in here yeah what what getting artistic in the kitchen with head chef Jack look at that and enjoying the Glorious British summer weather with William [Music] hello hello how are you good it's so nice to see you yeah now am I just about to walk under the iford Wisteria well certainly one of them but it's the earliest this is about 1820s Wisteria only came to the UK in 1815. so this is definitely one of those very early plants and it has an amazing scent and it produces amazing flowers and it's very happy on the south face I mean birthstone so I'm just trying to do my maths here so basically this is 200 years old you know the American in me I need to date everything and you you find out if it's older than my country or not I mean but 200 years old incredible it's an awesome plant anyway I'm going to remember this moment let's go get you a call okay great well you've picked A really lovely day for me to come thank you it's um thank you thank you for bringing me here when the sun is shining so tell me a little bit more about why your Gardens are so special well they've got a very rich history I they go back to Medieval Times when this was a rich Factory owner's house with a factory at the other end it was two buildings and then it was really the Georgians who did the terraformings All The Terraces you see behind us yes yes and up into the hills those are Georgian Terraces we're talking between 1730 I suppose and 1820 that sort of period and the Georgians were the Great Builders weren't they they didn't think twice about just cutting in and building something new and then it's Harold Pito who comes in 1899 down the hill over there on his bicycle and he's looking for somewhere to settle down looking for the perfect house and here he finds this Jewel of a little sort of smart Georgian Villa the bottom of a steeply wooded Hill facing south and with a little stream River in front and I think when you look out that way you kind of sense maybe he felt he was on the North shore of Lake Como or maybe Lake Garda somewhere like that yes yes you know he was in the sort of villa Bellagio looking out over his beautiful glistening Lakeside but crucially setting it in England his beloved England because he was an Edwardian Englishman so he's really the creator of this of the of these Gardens yes the augmenter right he's the augmentor a Georgian garden and plays with it and turns it into something else he's not a capability brand sweeping everything away to create something new he is somebody who augments who builds another layer of history for another one to come on top of him that's us and another one on top of us and it's that extraordinary Rich sort of sandwich I suppose you would say well I like that word of course um but you know extraordinary sandwich The Filling is getting bigger and I suppose the failure is when you're the one who puts the top on the sandwich yeah because you're not continuing you're not continuing wrapping it up yep exactly well my husband wanted me to mention to you that we do have a connection and I don't know if you're aware of this I know but my father-in-law sandwich speaking of sandwich so the 11th Earl of Sandwich my father-in-law's mother was Rosemary Pito text ordinary yeah so her great uncle was Harold I've always wondered whether Harold Pito had an influence or vice versa or new mapperton exactly I've always wondered that because mapperton's italianette Gardens were created by athlabashare and they were created over seven years from 1920 to 1927. so Harold Peter was still around he was definitely around he died in 1933. he would have been I would have think by that stage in his career advising yes rather than doing he was in his 60s and early 70s but I bet he went to visit I bet he went there these Gardens are 20 years prior so this is 1900 to 1910 The Cloister which we'll see later is 1914. right um pretending to be 12 15 because nothing you see in this Garden is quite as it seems don't trust anything don't trust anything okay okay the Gardens at iford May largely be the brainchild of one man but it's William's parents Elizabeth and John Cartwright hignet who have lovingly kept Harold pito's Vision alive for the past 50 years my mother came to Eiffel in 1965 she bought iPhone from a nephew of Harold Pito and she basically spent 50 years restoring iFood I mean she picked it up as a 25 year old single woman what which is kind of um 60s is kind of crazy so your mother bought iford age 25 and took over the running of it that's right I mean she was moving her family from enormous house called Eno Park beautiful yeah yeah yeah of course moved down here a bit of a downsizing if you can call it that um still um downsizing nevertheless and so she moved in she married my father in 1979 I think it was probably one of the best things that happened to iFood in the last 50 years because he then poured his energies into this Garden for 40 years and restored the buildings and the structures so that now we're in a position to take it on for the next 50 years exactly so you grew up here you grew up here watching your parents run this exactly because this is you know not only is this a lot to take on of course but the gardens so the gardens are what people come and see and I actually haven't seen them yet so what I want to do right now is go and explore these let's go maybe get my hands a little bit dirty too absolutely great foreign [Music] called these Gardens paradise and I can see why I'm having a little wander and there's just so much to see I mean if this Garden is is you know terraced on so many different levels and when you go from one level to the next it completely changes the gardens are planted over two and a half acres and are attended by a team of gardeners and volunteers who keep them in full bloom it is incredible it's just magical and there's so many places dotted around the gardens that you can just find a spot sort of contemplate because it's so peaceful it's Serene the smells are incredible and again it's just an opportunity to find a spot sit down just be I'm heading up to see Troy the head Gardener Troy is obviously an expert here at iford I kind of don't know where I'm going but I'm gonna head up The Path right here [Music] foreign oh my goodness I found you I'm now in the Japanese garden is that right Japanese or Oriental Oriental there's so many different layers of this Garden I mean and I don't just mean by the way that it's built up it's there are so many different sort of compartments I guess if you like what I find fascinating here is you literally walk six yards behind you and you've traveled like 6 000 miles to Europe that's that's like the Roman Appian Way and here we are in in Japan right that's where I just was so why is it that there are so many what was it with Harold Pito he he purposely did this to create these sort of different elements throughout it was a genius I think you know because there's these moments but it doesn't try to separate them they're very much linked but it feels still effortless you know it doesn't feel awkward moving from one space to the other no I don't know how he manages to achieve that because it's one of the most difficult aspects of garden design if you like but transitions but I mean he went to all these places so he traveled to Japan I think in about 1895 very early on really he spent a few weeks and brought back obviously the ideas and some of the things that he saw there right so this is kind of like a little Grand Tour do you know what I mean absolutely that's what it kind of feels like when I walk around so Troy tell me how long have you been here as head Gardener so I was I've been here just about two years as a head Gardener but I mean I knew I'd known iFit for a long time it's um the way it Nestles in the landscape so beautiful it was the first thing that struck me I used to walk along the river um about 25 years ago so it's lovely to be here now in the garden in the garden okay so I you probably get assets all the time but I'm going to ask it anyway um what is your do you have a favorite part of the garden I think it is probably here oh yeah I think there's something different about this this space you know it's not about the obvious right it's about the orchestration of the greens the dappled light the sound of the water there the coolness the temperature changes dramatically you know just stepping into this this space so yeah I think he is it's got all those elements so what can I do to help you well yeah well today I'm cutting these irises down today these uh right I love the Japanese water Iris but I think I'm okay continuing with that okay what would be really useful if you don't mind getting into the pot into the water I love water I mean like how far do you want me to go well it'd be really nice to I've got a net we can skim off all of this kind of floating floating leaves okay lovely fantastic well okay well did you lay these out for me I did I bought you myself I'm so excited so I'm gonna put these on now grab the net great okay fantastic so I'm just gonna put these on there we go how do I look all right Troy I'm ready so just supposed to wobble those ones okay but I'm going I am going in I'm stepping into the unknown okay that's a bit okay stepping in okay okay there we go me and water we do like each other yeah it's watch the um the Deep bit where's the DJ okay okay so I'm just all this yes please okay all this okay super just I have surface skin surface surface so a little bit higher up yeah and probably a bit more horizontal so that's it yeah they can just kind of drop in and then so so it's not over the edge I think that was my issue okay that's not a very good job your effect really okay swivel around and flick it onto the edge I'm just curious these they don't have any holes in them today feeling a bit so yeah it's a little bit cold okay so slap so it's like a pancake right yeah on here yeah thank you one two three okay and you just carry on and then I can just I don't have to flip it back around okay so I'm going to go under here okay okay so am I how fast do you normally do this well we like to do it every week and probably about two hours so it's quite a commitment but I think that surface the clarity of the water yeah quite important and because we're in there we are stirring it up but that all settles that that all settles the Stirrup okay yeah wow wow okay so I'm gonna be here Troy for like two hours so we've got the weeds the leaves here but also some of that blanket weed as well which okay so I am trying to get the leaves in yes yes oh okay I see a dragonfly there oh so much Wildlife it's great in here this year we've seen so many things there's frogs toads newts snakes wait I I'm sorry say that again wait are there no no I'm fine with frogs I'm fine with toads fine with newts I swim with them snakes I have an issue other snakes in here we've seen snakes swimming in here okay okay the safe ones they're only grass snakes they're just great I didn't know grass snakes because you think sure you're putting me into snakes I have a I have I do have a fear of snakes and cows but they're not like gonna attack me right you just might scoop one up in your necks what what shut up is there a snake in here oh my gosh I think Stephen did you really see a snake you did oh my gosh I mean I'm really bad at this sorry Troy coming up on American Pie Contest at iford Manor I'll be going on a tour around the garden with the owner William this is the wow moment right it kind of is This is wow

Channel: American Viscountess

Views: 64,690

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Id: i8cIytz2WrA

Length: 17min 30sec (1050 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021