In May of this year I visited an estate near Newport in Fife that had just been sold. I found the faux-Tudor-Italianate House to be dilapidated, and to my eyes, not attractive. The setting however remains gorgeous and the much older oval walled garden just delightful. I sat in this garden and listened to the birds sing. My thoughts returned to this passage from Tristan by Thomas Mann:
“. . . all those years are precious to me: especially the garden, our garden behind the house. It was terribly wild and overgrown, and the walls round it were crumbling and covered with moss; but that was just what gave it its great charm.”
I would not overly tidy this garden but I would plant a mulberry tree in the centre. I would fill the garden with sweet-peas, climbing scented roses and espaliers.
The estate of Chesterhill was sold for three times the asking price to a Lottery winner who won £148 million.
