Mission impossible

Rubble and ruin were all that remained of the early-19th-century Villa Frere and its gardens, planted by the English diplomat John Hookham Frere, until a group of dedicated volunteers came to its rescue. Josephine Tyndale-Biscoe tells the story

- Josephine Tyndale-Biscoe

IN 1930, COUNTRY LIFE published a glowing article about the famous gardens at Villa Frere in Malta that had been created by the English diplomat John Hookham Frere (1769–1846). He had retired to Malta in 1820 with his wife, Elizabeth, the Dowager Countess of Erroll, hoping that the sunnier climate would benefit her delicate health. Eventually, however, she succumbed and in 1831, after her death, he began creating his garden partly as a way of alleviating his bereavement.