We visited Highgrove so you don’t have to.
An American tour guide once told me that Americans always want to visit The Laskett and Highgrove, so she takes them there so she can then take them on to good gardens. (You’ll be pleased to know that that included Veddw)
And apparently the sainted Christopher Lloyd said “Basically, Prince Charles’s tastes are very fussy and the plantings are all, and generally inappropriately, cottage gardening.”
James Alexander-Sinclair (an RHS Vice-President, awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers) said: “if the truth be told it is very much a curate’s egg of a garden in that parts of it are fine but most of it is a bit of a hodge podge.”
And I’m sorry to have to tell you that we were not allowed to take photos. If you want to see what it looks like – in professional, selected images) you must visit the website.
It occurred to me that the garden is in many ways like the man.
To begin with it is, of course, as you will have gathered, swamped in essential security, just as the King must be. Hence no photos. You have to go on a guided tour, which once again confirmed my prejudices against being escorted round a garden. We could have read most of the information we received from the guide book (sorry – can’t show you that) and without a guide we could have taken our time, sat in some seats, enjoyed views, gossiped anonymously and maliciously about what we were looking at.
We were allowed to take photos before we reached the garden. Here are some people waiting for the tour in the waiting room.
I don’t think our King is very flowery, and neither was his garden. It was in early October, but we still have loads of flowers in our garden, so it seems to be predominantly a tree and shrub garden, with a flowery meadow which was well mowed (as our is) at this time of year.
There were flowers in the ‘meadow’ outside the garden, which is not really a meadow. See here for a good Anne moan about that.
Is the King in rather poor taste? Well, I’m not sure about that. Most of us like having a King. But in his garden we could have done without the rather unpleasant lump of Bannerman design ornament in the Stumpery which was exacerbated by the addition of a portrait of the late Queen’s mother, surrounded by pockmarked masonry designed to echo the pockmarked Bannerman ornament. The stumps are mostly hidden by overgrowth now, which I trust the King is not. (Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. There were one or two little newish ones)
There were flowers here too, and these were not in the garden, either. But I thought you might like them.
The King is, I think, appropriately quiet(ish) and perhaps a bit dull. We are grateful for this in the UK. He has occasional eccentricities and so does the garden – a Thyme Walk which I think has never quite worked. Elephants in the bit outside the garden.
Someone maybe feeding an artificial elephant.
He is healthy and worthy, and so is the garden apart from, sadly, a bit of box blight and a National Collection of Hostas which are totally and horribly slug ridden. (Sorry – you will have to imagine this. No-one has taken a professional picture of the holey hostas.)
The garden is totally organic (there are organic slug baits but no-one seems to like them) and has lots of veggies. Unlike one of your presidents he no doubt eats his broccoli, because he’s good like that. And so the garden no doubt has broccoli too.
But there’s no wow factor. I like excitement in a garden. However, I would understand if the King has quite enough excitement elsewhere in his life. And, “At my age, one must ration one’s excitement,” as Lady Grantham once said in Downton Abbey.
We were on our way out…..
It was quite a nice afternoon out. The sun shone and we had a good tea in Tetbury. Though I might have got a bit moody, because I walked out of one café which didn’t please me enough. I think I needed a little lift by then. Toasted teacake did it.
You can buy one of these on the way out. But it isn’t true.
I am fascinated by the elephants. Are they wicker, meant to last only a year and burned at season’s end? I’m thinking Druids and the movie “wicker man”. Now that would make the King’s garden a little more exciting.
I imagine they might be wicker (one of willow, rattan, reed, and bamboo). There’s quite a bit of these kind of fabrications around in the UK and sadly they rot quite quickly. Or if attached to the ground, grow out madly. I don’t have personal experience, so I didn’t identify the material here.
But bonfires are sadly regarded by many now as un-ecological, so I doubt they would have a fabulous burn up to celebrate the season’s end (or Bonfire Night, which would be very British). Shame!
I was beginning to think you’d been cancelled- which would have been quite understandable when you are dissing our Kings garden making. I am expecting a heavy knock on the door from men in plain clothes.
Noooooooooo!
The highly carved hedging shows his interest in architecture, while broadly i agree with you sense of anticlimax. There is rather too much “stuff” that he has been given by important people and not enough gardening for my taste. For obvious reasons the garden is protective of who can look in, but is also means there are not many views out of the garden. Road noise is also an issue in some parts.
Yes. And thanks for saying so. Like Charles I’m afraid I’ll get cancelled! Or worse……
Thanks for the warning! What are the other “good gardens”?
That conversation never got to them, I’m afraid. Though we were standing in one really good one at the time – https://www.specialplants.net/.
Gardens are personal creations whether you are a commoner or a king. One persons tastes might not charm another. It’s easy to be judgmental of a celebrities’ (or king’s) garden but to each his own. Gardeners can be very critical (and sometimes vocal too) of gardens that don’t meet their expectations. The fact that King Charles is pushing growing your own food in the best way possible I think is perhaps a better take away message than perfect design.
Books, plays, paintings, sculptures – are all personal creations. That doesn’t mean we can’t talk about them and have our opinions. Especially when the gardens cost a lot to travel to and to visit. Even with cabbages.
What a wonderfully snippy column! Just what I’d expect from Anne Wareham, and thank goodness for that. How many people would hold back any negative comments, thinking: who am I to criticize a king’s garden? Bravo!
And, according to Charles, now awaiting arrest!
Some years ago now I found the book ‘Highgrove An experiment in Organic Gardening and Farming’ at a church thrift sale in Central Virginia. It was really interesting and covered the difficulties of going organic. The publishing date was 1993.
Over the years new machinery was developed by Highgrove to take much of the handwork out of organic growing. There are lovely pictures and interesting comments by the Head Gardner. The garden was lovely then
I went on line a couple of years ago to see how it had come along. Contrary to common thought the then Prince’s income was totally made off Highgrove and ways had been found to make it pay, including the marketing of products made on the estate and sold in the local stores and eventually in others.
I am sorry that you didn’t get to see it when the book was written I think you would have enjoyed it.
Tish Iorio in Central Va
I’m obviously not sure how long ago that was, but I did visit with James Alexander-Sinclair in 2010 and James wrote up his thoughts, rather facetiously: https://thinkingardens.co.uk/reviews/the-wheels-on-the-bus-were-made-from-radishes/
Thank you for your service.
I too visited Highgrove – it was last May just before the Chelsea flower show – the King’s garden seemed to be between seasons, or at least that was my thought since not much was blooming or catching my eye. We did, however, notice a small piece of art statuary depicting the King and Camilla tucked away in a nook in the garden.
Well, I guess they’ve been tucking themselves away, one way or another, for a long time, and maybe there…….
I had been curious about the stumpery, but this one had not made it onto my bucket list before your post. Most definitely not afterwards! I require WOW factor, as much as possible. Cheers & thanks for the report.
Thanks for the reassurance that I haven’t destroyed a dream.
Anne, I hope Charles has not had to ransom you or pay bail…do you have that in the Isles? I do enjoy your rants. I’m sure it would be hard to write them from “inside” since I doubt they would allow you to have a pen.
Not yet – but you don’t have to pay bail here, though you may have to get someone to stand surety for you in case you scarper. It would be a new challenge to write about gardening from Holloway.
You may like to know that we’re having the State Opening of Parliament today, when the King goes and reads a speech telling us what the government plans to do in this session. While he is in parliament there has to be an MP as hostage at Buckingham Palace.