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Sir John Gieldguld's Garden
Sir John Gieldgud,
who sadly died in this past week, had a garden whose
style matched his own. George Plumptre remembers visiting
the legendary actor to talk to him about his garden
The sight of Sir John Gielgud perched on the edge of
the stone basin surrounding a fountain in the middle
of his garden made me think this was the perfect setting
for England’s greatest classical actor.
His garden was set out in front of the equally immaculate
home, a mini classical pavilion that was originally
a wing of the larger mansion next door. He moved here
about twenty-five years ago and the garden was always
a haven of privacy where he could escape from his public
life.
The thing that fascinated me about visiting Sir John
and talking about his garden, apart from how much he
loved it, was the extent to which it immediately reflected
him – or at least the person that we the public
knew. Our idea of him was always immaculate, classical
and neat, not given to overstatement, but with great
humour delivered with perfect timing.
These were the qualities of his garden. When he redesigned
it, with the help of a friend, Sir John wanted to recreate
the style of formal garden that he knew had been made
when the house was originally built. But it was no accident
that a garden of classical formality also suited his
own taste.
One great asset, which I straightaway knew would appeal
to a man of the theatre, was the broad terrace in front
of house from which the garden could be surveyed. Standing
on the terrace you could be on stage: the raised position
gave maximum impact to the central garden’s formal
design into four blocks, the outlines drawn with immaculate
clipped box hedging. The centrepiece of the fountain
with Triton spouting water added the perfect theatrical
touch.
Elsewhere in the garden elegant statues, billowing hedges
of lavender and carefully colour-schemed borders where
the greens of different foliage were as important as
the flower colours all emphasised the superb orderliness
of the garden.
Sir John Gielgud was clearly someone who liked his life
to run calmly and smoothly. I remember thinking as I
left how much his garden would add to this general atmosphere:
reassuring, tranquil, no nasty surprises.
Articles
reprinted with premission from Greenfingers.com
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