Thenford

Michael and Anne Heseltine tell the story of how they created their extraordinary garden and arboretum at Thenford.

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When Michael and Anne Heseltine wanted to tell the story behind the creation of one of the most beautiful private gardens in England, they thought their book should be titled Mistake by Mistake. While every gardener will identify with that sentiment, the Heseltines were advised that a book with such a gloomy title would never sell. So the book they published in 2016 was called Thenford: The Creation of an English Garden. This second edition, published in 2024, updates the story and balances the mistakes against the achievements.

Over more than 40 years, Michael and Anne have converted a run-down walled garden, silted-up mediaeval fishponds and overgrown woodlands into a 70-acre arboretum that includes three lakes, restored fishponds, an alpine trough garden, a rill, extensive water gardens, a sculpture garden and a restored walled garden. The arboretum owes its original inspiration to the late Sir Harold Hillier and contains more than 3,000 varieties of trees and shrubs, many wild-collected by such well known plantsmen as Roy Lancaster CBE, Allen Coombes, Keith Rushforth and Chris Chadwell.

Thenford’s most recent feature is the national collection of snowdrops, built over the years with much encouragement from renowned galanthophiles David and Margaret MacLennan, and now numbering more than 1,200 varieties.

Beautifully illustrated, this story of the creation of an extraordinary garden will delight horticultural experts and novices alike.

Visitors are welcome. For details of public access see thenfordarboretum.com.