A phoenix rises

After inheriting the family home in 2018, Lord Carrington has been devoted to the thoughtful renewal and replanting of this historic garden, reveals Tiffany Daneff

- Tiffany Daneff

The gardens at Bledlow Manor, Bledlow, Buckinghamshire The home of Baron Carrington of Upton

GARDENERS often comfort themselves after a disaster with the thought that the loss of a tree or favourite plant offers opportunities for planting something new. The destruction of such a building as the great medieval tithe barn at Bledlow Manor, which burned down one night in 1967, must have been a truly appalling blow. Yet its loss was the catalyst for the creation of the South Garden and much that followed, as Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington of Upton, explains.

Lord Carrington is standing above a sunken square pool reached via shallow brick steps at each end and edged with brick walls topped with contrasting fresh green beech hedges. A plain and perfectly judged fountain gives life at its centre and blue-painted benches invite one to sit awhile. It makes a deliberately strong statement and one that is surely preparing the visitor for what is to come. 'None of this,' he says, 'would be here had the tithe barn not burned down that night.'

The Caringtons have owned Bledlow Manor since the end of the 18th century, but none of them lived here until Lord Carrington's parents, Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, the distinguished politician, and his wife, Iona, moved here in 1946. The manor was built in 1647, added to in 1700 and yet again in 1802. To begin with, they shared the house with the tenant farmer. 'There was no garden then and cattle grazed where the lawn is now,' the present Lord Carrington says, referring to the lawn between the manor and its walled garden, the oldest surviving part of the present 12 acres.