by Helen Kain | Apr 5, 2026 | Castles & Stately Homes, Featured, Gardens
Wrest Park was something of a surprise. Glenn and I had based ourselves at the Gardener’s Cottage at nearby at Audley End, and knew very little about Wrest Park beyond a vague awareness that it was an English Heritage property with notable gardens. Well, the...
by Helen Kain | Feb 27, 2025 | Carousel Library, Castles & Stately Homes, Gardens
A House Built for Power Hatfield House is a grand testament to the ambitions of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, the younger son of William Cecil, Elizabeth I’s trusted advisor. Built in the early 17th century, it replaced the Old Palace of...
by Helen Kain | Oct 12, 2024 | Gardens, Home, Recent
There’s something magical about walled gardens — so ordered, protected and private. Ever since consuming The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett as a child, I’ve been fascinated with them. The high walls, usually brick, create a warm...
by Helen Kain | May 28, 2024 | Gardens, Recent
Hidcote Manor Garden is one of Britain’s best-known Arts and Crafts gardens. Its fame is all the more astonishing as the stunning masterpiece was not designed by a professional landscape architect but by an amateur with a tremendous interest in plants and garden...
by Helen Kain | Mar 26, 2024 | Castles & Stately Homes, Gardens
The Old Palace at Hatfield was the childhood home for all three of Henry VIII’s children but is most closely associated with Elizabeth I. During happy periods in her childhood, it was where Elizabeth shared her brother Edward’s education. Later, it served...
by Helen Kain | Apr 19, 2020 | Castles & Stately Homes, Gardens
Most of the grand manor houses we see in England have a history involving a lot of ups and downs. Sudeley Castle is the veritable Snakes & Ladders of the genre. The tale began innocuously enough with a commonplace event: William le Boteler of Wem married heiress...
