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Want to meet rich and famous gardeners? Be especially nice to their dog

Two cannons in the garden of Terry Gilliam, ex-Monty Python - Hugo Rittson Thomas
Two cannons in the garden of Terry Gilliam, ex-Monty Python - Hugo Rittson Thomas

The life of the importunate garden writer (IGW) is made a lot easier if you happen to like dogs. Your arrival at the gardener’s cottage, or the estate office (it’s considered impolite to rock up to the main entrance of the house unless invited to do so in advance) is usually greeted with faint – if polite – suspicion.

This usually melts as one fends off the inevitable canine onslaught with cries of: “Yes, aren’t you gorgeous? What a handsome boy you are!” 

It is possible, of course, that the owner (if male) might think you mean him, but in my experience, the British tend to be as modest about their looks as they are bonkers about their animals, and so far, confusion has never arisen.

It is impossible, and I speak as the owner of a Tibetan terrier, to remain aloof and impersonal in the face of praise for your beloved pet. It is also very comforting for me, in the role of importunate garden writer, to be met with huge enthusiasm, even if it is only by the dog. It is rare for me to be greeted ecstatically by any human connected with the gardens I write about. I’m not quite sure why this is, but I suspect it is less to do with my personal appearance or the state of my car (both scruffy, admittedly), and more to do with a fear that I will subject the interviewee to some sort of horticultural catechism, followed by a test on botanical Latin.

Cath Kidston - Credit: Hugo Rittson Thomas
Victoria enjoyed a cup of tea at Cath Kidston's garden Credit: Hugo Rittson Thomas

So thank goodness for Meg (Julian and Emma Fellowes’ border collie), Buster (Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Le Poer Trench’s wheaten terrier), Dandy (Kirstie Allsopp’s Border terrier) and all the other canine companions who helped break the ice.

Among these were Trudie Styler’s Irish wolfhounds. I met them when I went to the garden Trudie and her husband Sting created in Wiltshire, but the couple themselves were in America, where they spend a lot of time. My dog groomer Wendy also breeds Irish wolfhounds, so I told her about my visit. “Oh yes, I’ve been there,” she said. (So much for my imagined exclusivity.)

Sting and Trudie Styler - Credit: Hugo Rittson Thomas
Sting and Trudie Styler in their Wiltshire garden Credit: Hugo Rittson Thomas

Wendy told me how Trudie had campaigned to try to eradicate DCM, a cardiac condition which affects around a third of wolfhound puppies, and had invited all the UK’s breeders to come for free testing.

I had to book a telephone interview with Trudie in New York via her PA, which was cancelled a couple of times, and I was beginning to feel a bit weary of the whole cumbersome business. However, when I finally got through to Trudie, we talked for two hours about wolfhounds and gardening, as if the five-hour time difference was a sort of virtual garden fence. 

Apart from saying hello to the hound, however, the first thing the IGW wants to do when visiting a garden is to use the loo. Forget the parterre, or the grass labyrinth, or the rose garden. If you have driven two and a half hours down the A350, or the M40, or the A346 behind some enormous lorry or tractor, you'll need to powder your nose.

One lavatory on my travels stood out as spectacular. It belonged to Julian and Emma Fellowes, and it was a beauty, with an impressive wooden “thunderbox” seat, and decorated entirely – even the ceiling – with cartoons, magazine covers and illustrations featuring variations on the famous 1914 Lord Kitchener poster, featuring the immortal words: “Your country needs you.” 

Griff Rhys Jones - Credit: Hugo Rittson Thomas
Griff Rhys Jones is a hands-on gardener Credit: Hugo Rittson Thomas

Lady Fellowes is Kitchener’s great-grand-niece, and very proud of her illustrious forebear. Of all the owners in The Secret Gardeners, Julian and Emma Fellowes are probably the most aristocratic, but they were also among the most delightful. On the advice of Hugo Rittson Thomas, who took the wonderful photographs for the book, I had addressed my introductory email to “Dear Lord and Lady Fellowes”. A reply from Julian Fellowes came back within 24 hours, beginning: “Dear Victoria (if I may).”

Tea is the other necessity for the IGW, and offers are always gratefully accepted. Emma Fellowes gave me tea in the drawing room, which was a huge treat. I’m not usually allowed to have tea in my own drawing room, thanks to my habit of forgetting to take off my gardening boots when I come into the house. 

Garden of Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Le Poer Trench - Credit: Hugo Rittson Thomas
A prop from Carousel in the garden of Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Le Poer Trench Credit: Hugo Rittson Thomas

A cup of tea made by Cath Kidston in a Cath Kidston mug is another treasured memory from my peregrinations, but the garden owners who won my undying devotion were the ones who gave me lunch, such as Cameron Mackintosh’s partner Michael Le Poer Trench, and the artist Allen Jones and his wife, Deirdre. Interestingly, their gardens are two of my favourites, but I would like to think this is not merely the result of cupboard love.

Michael is one of the examples I use as a riposte to all the people who say: “But surely these celebs don’t do their gardens themselves, do they?” He is completely hands-on, as is Griff Rhys Jones and his wife Jo, Jeremy Irons, and film director Paul Weiland.

Yes, they all have help in the garden, but the vision that creates the garden and gives it a sense of place is their vision. Allen Jones (no dog, but a marmalade cat called Cyrus) even used his own portrait as the basis for his garden design - a marriage of art and practicality that is as thought-provoking as it is beautiful. He has a rather nice loo as well. 

Gardens as performance 

  • I like whimsy in the garden, but I think it works best when it adds drama rather than twee ornamentation. Former Monty Python member and film director Terry Gilliam is a brilliant exponent of the theatrical flourish. I loved the two cannons in his London garden, which are from his 1988 film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

  • Cameron Mackintosh has also used props from his productions in his Somerset garden. My favourite is the blue horse from Carousel, which gallops through a woodland glade. The sense of motion, and the vivid colour, gives a magical effect, like glimpsing a unicorn in the forest. 

  • Vistas were a recurring theme in all the gardens, as you might expect from owners who have backgrounds in the visual or performance arts. I was particularly impressed by the way Cath Kidston had unified the design of her house and garden with a central axis, and how Griff Rhys Jones used topiary to frame the views of the estuary from his Suffolk farmhouse. 

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The Secret Gardeners: Britain's Creatives Reveal Their Private Sanctuariesis the result of Victoria Summerley's adventures as an Importunate Garden Writer (Frances Lincoln, £30). To order your copy for £20 with free p&p call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk.