People : DDDD Deborah The Dowager Duchess Of Devonshire, Gardener On A Scale Like No Other…

Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire DCVO (née Deborah Freeman-Mitford; 31 March 1920 – 24 September 2014), was the youngest and last surviving of the six Mitford sisters who were prominent members of English society in the 1930s and 1940s.

Life

Known to her family as “Debo”, Deborah Mitford was born in Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, England. She married Lord Andrew Cavendish, younger son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, in 1941. When Cavendish’s older brother, William, Marquess of Hartington, was killed in combat in 1944, Cavendish became heir to the dukedom and Marquess of Hartington; in 1950, upon the death of his father, he became the 11th Duke of Devonshire.

The Duchess was the main public face of Chatsworth for many decades. The Duchess wrote several books about Chatsworth, and played a key role in the restoration of the house, the enhancement of the garden and the development of commercial activities such as Chatsworth Farm Shop (which is on a quite different scale from most farm shops as it employs a hundred people); Chatsworth’s other retail and catering operations; and assorted offshoots such as Chatsworth Food, which sells luxury foodstuffs which carry her signature and Chatsworth Design which sells image rights to items and designs from the Chatsworth collections. Recognising the commercial imperatives of running a stately home, she took a very active role and was known to run the ticket office for Chatsworth House herself. She also supervised the development of the Cavendish Hotel at Baslow near Chatsworth and the Devonshire Arms Hotel at Bolton Abbey.

In 1999 the Duchess was appointed a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO) by Queen Elizabeth II, for her service to the Royal Collection Trust. Upon the death of her husband in 2004, her son Peregrine Cavendish became the 12th Duke of Devonshire. She became the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire at this time.

She and the duke had seven children, four of whom died shortly after birth:

• Mark Cavendish (born and died 14 November 1941)
• Emma Cavendish (born 26 March 1943, styled Lady Emma Cavendish from 1944), mother of the fashion model Stella Tennant
• Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire (born 27 April 1944)
• An unnamed child (miscarried December 1946; he or she was a twin of Victor Cavendish, born in 1947)
• Lord Victor Cavendish (born and died 22 May 1947)
• Lady Mary Cavendish (born and died 5 April 1953)
• Lady Sophia Louise Sydney Cavendish (born 18 March 1957)

She was also a maternal aunt of Max Mosley, former president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), as well as the grandmother of Stella Tennant, a fashion model.

Death

Her death, at the age of 94, was announced on 24 September 2014. The Duchess was survived by three of her seven children, eight grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren.

Selected interviews

She was interviewed on her experience of sitting for a portrait for painter Lucian Freud in the BBC series Imagine in 2004.

In an interview with John Preston of the Daily Telegraph, published in September 2007, she recounted having tea with Adolf Hitler during a visit to Munich in June 1937, when she was visiting Germany with her mother and her sister Unity, the latter being the only one of the three who spoke German and, therefore the one who carried on the entire conversation with Hitler. Shortly before ending the interview, Preston asked her to choose with whom she would have preferred to have tea: American singer Elvis Presley or Hitler. Looking at the interviewer with astonishment, she answered: “Well, Elvis of course! What an extraordinary question.”

In 2010, the BBC journalist Kirsty Wark interviewed the Duchess for Newsnight. In it, the Duchess talked about life in the 1930s and 1940s, Hitler, the Chatsworth estate, and the marginalisation of the upper classes. She was also interviewed on 23 December by Charlie Rose for PBS. She spoke of her memoir and other interesting aspects of her life. On 10 November 2010, she was interviewed as part of “The Artists, Poets, and Writers Lecture Series” sponsored by the Frick Collection, an interview which focused on her memoir and her published correspondence with Patrick Leigh Fermor.

Titles from birth

• The Honourable Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford (1920–1941)
• The Lady Andrew Cavendish (1941–1944)
• Marchioness of Hartington (1944–1950)
• Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire (1950–2004)
• Her Grace The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire (2004-2014)

Kirkharle Hall : Birthplace and Inspiration of Capability Brown , the man who Landscaped England.

Kirkharle Hall is a country house at Kirkharle, Northumberland, England, the former seat of the Loraine family, now much reduced and in use as a farmhouse. The Hall is in the upper reaches of the Wansbeck valley; almost adjacent to the A696 road; 12 miles (19 km) west of Morpeth; and 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of Kirkwhelpington.

History

Kirkharle name was first recorded, as Herle in 1177, and derives either from the Old English “Herela-lea” which means “Herela’s Grove” or from the Old English “herg-lea” which means “temple-grove” a place of worship for the pre-Christian Angles. Other early forms included Kyrkeherle (c.1250), Kyrkherll (1346) and Kirkehirle (1428), the “kirk” element denoting a “church”. The Loraine Baronets acquired it by marriage the manor from the De Harles who owned it in the 14th century, and derived their name (literally “of Harle”) from the village. Following its sale to a local farmer in the early 19th century the Hall was largely demolished. Only one wing was retained which was rebuilt as a farmhouse. It is a Grade II listed building.

Nearby stands a memorial stone erected in 1728 to replace an earlier memorial commemorating Robert Loraine who was killed by marauding Scots in 1483.

Among the quaint epitaphs in the church upon departed Loraines is the following: Here lyes the Body of Richard Loraine, Esq., who was a proper handsome man of good sense and behaviour : he dy’d a Batcheler of an Appoplexy walking in a green field near London, October 26th, 1738, in the 38 Year of his Age.

The surrounding parkland was designed in the 18th century by Capability Brown who was born at Kirkharle and who began his career as a gardener in the park. The park is a Registered Historic Park Grade II.

The present owner has redeveloped the farm and its outbuildings to create Kirkharle Courtyard, a development incorporating historical, retail and craft centres.

I came upon this place by accident when traveling back from Cragside. And being Capability Brown’s birthplace just had to take a peek.

Cragside : Europe’s Largest Rock Garden and the First House in the World to be Lit by Hydroelectric Power

Cragside is a country house in the civil parish of Cartington in Northumberland, England. It was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power. Built into a rocky hillside above a 4 km² forest garden, it was the country home of Lord Armstrong and has been in the care of the National Trust since 1977. The property was eventually opened to the public in 1979.

Cragside, named after Cragend Hill above the house, was built in 1863 as a modest two-storey country lodge, but was subsequently extended to designs by Richard Norman Shaw, transforming it into an elaborate mansion in the Free Tudor style. At one point, the building included an astronomical observatory and a scientific laboratory.

The Grade I listed house is surrounded by one of Europe’s largest rock gardens, a large number of rhododendrons and a large collection of mostly coniferous trees.

In 2007, Cragside reopened after undergoing “total refurbishment.”

Electricity

In 1868, a hydraulic engine was installed, with water being used to power labour-saving machines such as laundry equipment, a rotisserie and a hydraulic lift. In 1870, water from one of the estate’s lakes was used to drive a Siemens dynamo in what was the world’s first hydroelectric power station. The resultant electricity was used to power an arc lamp installed in the Gallery in 1878. The arc lamp was replaced in 1880 by Joseph Swan’s incandescent lamps in what Swan considered ‘the first proper installation’ of electric lighting.

The generators, which also provided power for the farm buildings on the estate, were constantly extended and improved to match the increasing electrical demand in the house.

A new hydro-powered electricity generator has been installed in 2014, that can provide 12kw representing around 10% of the property’s electricity consumption. The new system is using a 17 metres long Archimedes’ screw.

Alnwick Castle Gardens not just a contemporary garden and home to Harry Potter its much much more …

The Cascade

Primulas underplanted down to the pergolas

Fruit in abundance in the walled garden

Well tended

Beautiful planting

Garden gate and a half

Pergolas line the cascade both sides … stunning

Cascade

Water, Water Everywhere

The Tree House

Me crossing to the tree house

Alnwick Castle

The Poison Garden

The Cascade from the top

Dig For Victory

The Tree House

The Alnwick Garden is a complex of formal gardens adjacent to Alnwick Castle in the town of Alnwick, Northumberland, England. The gardens have a long history under the Dukes of Northumberland, but fell into disrepair; they have only been revived over the past ten years, and now feature many different themes and influences, built around a central water cascade. The revival of the gardens led to several public disputes between the Duchess of Northumberland and various garden experts, concerning preservation and the use of public funds.

History

The first garden was laid down in 1750 by the 1st Duke of Northumberland, who employed Capability Brown, the celebrated gardener, to landscape the parkland adjoining Alnwick Castle.

The 3rd Duke was a plant collector, and led a century of development at Alnwick – he brought seeds from over the world, and pineapples were raised in hothouses. In the middle of the 19th century, the 4th Duke created an Italianate garden featuring a large conservatory, and at the end of the century, the gardens were at their grandest, with yew topiary, avenues of limes and acres of flowers.

During World War II’s Dig For Victory campaign, the garden was turned over and provided food, and soon afterwards the austerity of the 20th century saw the garden fall into disrepair. It was closed as a working garden in 1950.

Developments

Redevelopment of the garden was instigated by Jane Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, in 1997, and is being created by Belgian landscape designers Jacques and Peter Wirtz. It is the most ambitious new garden created in the United Kingdom since the Second World War, with a reported total development cost of £42 million.

The first phase of development, opened in October 2001, involved the creation of the cascade and initial planting of the gardens. In 2004 a large 6,000 sq ft (560 m2) ‘tree house’ complex, including a cafe, was opened. It is one of the largest treehouses in the world. In May 2006, a pavilion and visitor centre designed by Sir Michael Hopkins and Buro Happold opened. It has capacity for 1,000 people. The pavilion and visitor centre feature a barrel-vaulted gridshell roof.

The garden now belongs to a charitable trust, which is separate from Northumberland Estates, although the Duke of Northumberland donated the 42-acre (17 ha) site and contributed £9 million towards the development costs.

The gardens include several water features as well as architectural landscaping, topiary and decorative gates.

Poison garden

In February 2005, a poison garden with plants such as cannabis and opium poppy was added. Plantings include Nux vomica (the source of strychnine), hemlock, Ricinus communis (the source of harmless castor oil but with seeds that are deadly), foxglove, belladonna, and laburnam. This garden is very apt due to this being the film location of the Harry Potter Movies.

This garden is a must to see although I am biased having been born in Alnwick myself all those years ago.