0:00:06 > 0:00:09Four iconic English gardens.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Each is the product of one moment in history
0:00:11 > 0:00:15and each gives us a fascinating window into the century
0:00:15 > 0:00:18in which they were made and the people who created them.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Much more than just a history of gardening,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25these are extraordinary tales of escape,
0:00:25 > 0:00:27social ambition,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29heartbreak,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32downfall and disaster.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36In unravelling these remarkable stories, we reach back over
0:00:36 > 0:00:40the centuries to see these four great gardens through fresh eyes
0:00:40 > 0:00:44and gain a greater understanding of their real significance.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Beautiful,
0:00:58 > 0:00:59overpowering,
0:00:59 > 0:01:01provocative,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03extravagant,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06theatrical and even controversial.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Nestled in the West Sussex countryside is one of the most
0:01:11 > 0:01:15celebrated English Gardens of the 20th century - Great Dixter.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Created at the beginning of the century,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21it was the final flowering of a movement
0:01:21 > 0:01:25that looked back to the past to escape industrial Britain.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28It's another world taking inspiration from the past,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30right back to medieval styles.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Moving utterly away from industrialised England at the time
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and moving towards something very beautiful,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40very natural, very simple.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Great Dixter was made famous by Christopher Lloyd, the celebrated
0:01:46 > 0:01:51plantsman and writer, who used this garden as a living laboratory.
0:01:52 > 0:01:53No plant is out of bounds,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57that's Christopher's great lesson and great motto.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00It doesn't matter whether it's a dahlia or whether it's a parsnip,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04everything has relevance if, aesthetically,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07it creates that dance in the border that you strive for.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13The garden at Great Dixter contrasts rigid formality
0:02:13 > 0:02:15with wild exuberance.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18It's a garden that thrives on contradiction.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Traditional but experimental, rooted in the past
0:02:21 > 0:02:23but reaching to the future.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28It's an absolutely spectacular garden
0:02:28 > 0:02:31and it's one of those very unique places,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35which combines the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38It brings everything together so it doesn't feel mummified.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41It feels as if it's completely alive still.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47Christopher Lloyd died in 2006, but his garden continues
0:02:47 > 0:02:51thanks to Great Dixter's head gardener, Fergus Garrett,
0:02:51 > 0:02:53who has taken on the daunting challenge
0:02:53 > 0:02:56of keeping Christo's legacy alive.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01See, that's just a stunning combination.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Alliums and ladybird poppy.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11Look at this for a tree lupin, a naturally occurring hybrid.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17Fergus came to work at Great Dixter 21 years ago in 1993.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20He oversees every aspect of the garden,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23from designing the planting schemes for each area
0:03:23 > 0:03:26to directing his team of fulltime staff and students...
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Any spare time, let's get the tulips out of those pots...
0:03:32 > 0:03:36..and organising the nitty-gritty of Dixter's busy social calendar.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Yeah, Erin?
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Yes, for both of those, that'd be good.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Well, I've got Lady Mary King coming.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55Well, why not? Yes, why not? Why don't you do that, Erin?
0:03:55 > 0:03:57I did bring some old fish soup.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03It's just the place, where it's just flowing with ideas, you know?
0:04:03 > 0:04:05And if you take our bedding combinations,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08we never, ever repeat a bedding combination
0:04:08 > 0:04:10so people feel that sense of freedom there,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13and the same with these plantings, you know.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Otherwise I could just open up one of Christo's books
0:04:17 > 0:04:21and copy what he did one year or another year, but that's the way...
0:04:23 > 0:04:26..that's the way gardens go stale and become static,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28and we're not that sort of place.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Christopher Lloyd made Great Dixter world famous
0:04:35 > 0:04:40but this unique garden was created a decade before he was born.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44And it was shaped and inspired by a remarkable group of men and women.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Christopher's father, Nathaniel, who built the family fortune
0:04:51 > 0:04:55and Great Dixter by pioneering colour printing.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06His driven mother, Daisy, who proudly claimed descent
0:05:06 > 0:05:09from Oliver Cromwell, and brought that same zeal
0:05:09 > 0:05:11to everything she grew.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15A visionary writer called William Robinson,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19whose revolutionary ideas let nature loose in the garden.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25And a short-sighted Victorian spinster called Gertrude Jekyll,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29whose radical sense of colour transformed the English flowerbed.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35At the centre of the garden is an extraordinary house.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41In part dating back to the 15th century, it's a classic example
0:05:41 > 0:05:44of the Arts and Crafts movement, which celebrated the skills
0:05:44 > 0:05:49and materials that had been swept aside by the Industrial Revolution.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55Just like the garden, the house bears the mark of the Lloyd family.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Nathaniel and Daisy arrived from London in 1910
0:06:03 > 0:06:06with the dream of creating a unique home for them and their family.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12But the house and garden that's here today is very different
0:06:12 > 0:06:16from what Nathaniel and Daisy saw when they first came to Dixter.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24What they started with was a dilapidated medieval hall,
0:06:24 > 0:06:29with 450 acres of farmland that was called simply Dixter.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34To help them transform it into the home of their dreams,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36Nathaniel's masterstroke was to employ
0:06:36 > 0:06:39the brilliant architect Edwin Lutyens.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45He was famous for his sympathetic restoration of medieval houses
0:06:45 > 0:06:48and as the champion of the Arts and Crafts style.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Alan Power, the head gardener at Stourhead,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05is trying to discover how a run-down farmhouse was transformed
0:07:05 > 0:07:09into the centrepiece of one of England's most brilliant gardens.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14The house at Dixter looks as if it's been here for centuries
0:07:14 > 0:07:16but in fact when the Lloyds first turned up,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18this was all that was here -
0:07:18 > 0:07:21the medieval hall that dates back to the 1450s.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26Then, in the early 1900s, Lutyens designed this section of the house.
0:07:26 > 0:07:27But they seamlessly work together,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30the whole thing looks as if it's sat here for centuries.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32And there's a third element to the house that was added
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and that's around the corner in the other part of the garden.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45You can still see the Lutyens' work on this side of the house
0:07:45 > 0:07:48but what you really start to notice is the third element.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50This section of the house was actually an old yeoman's hall.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53It was derelict and it was being used as a barn at the time
0:07:53 > 0:07:56and Nathaniel bought it, had it dismantled
0:07:56 > 0:08:00transported across the county and re-assembled it here at Great Dixter
0:08:00 > 0:08:03and integrated it beautifully in with the other two elements.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14So why did the Lloyds choose to settle here?
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Having made his fortune as a lithographic printer,
0:08:19 > 0:08:23Nathaniel was ready to abandon London for a life in the country
0:08:23 > 0:08:25where he could spend his time on his great passions
0:08:25 > 0:08:27of golf and photography.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31But he was also searching for an outlet
0:08:31 > 0:08:34for his other great obsession - medieval architecture -
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and Dixter was the perfect project.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Daisy, 14 years younger than her husband, came from a family
0:08:42 > 0:08:45immersed in horticulture and literature.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47She had always envisaged a large family
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and wanted to create the perfect rural idyll.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Nathaniel and Daisy Lloyd's dream was to keep the harsh realities
0:09:08 > 0:09:11of a new century outside their garden gate.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16But in the real world, a terrible conflict was brewing.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Historian and writer Andrea Wulf has been searching through
0:09:31 > 0:09:35the family archives to try and discover how their new refuge,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Great Dixter, would face up to the challenge of a world war.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47When the war starts in 1914, they've only lived here very briefly because
0:09:47 > 0:09:51they buy it in 1910 and then they have to re-model it and build it.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55So they've just moved in here. And what I have here is
0:09:55 > 0:10:00a photograph of the great hall during World War I
0:10:00 > 0:10:04when it was turned into a Red Cross hospital.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08So you see this room, but it's filled with beds.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12It looks very strange to see the timber frame building with
0:10:12 > 0:10:15then very modern-looking hospital beds.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19And then there's another photograph which shows the entire staff
0:10:19 > 0:10:24and you see all the nurses in their beautifully starched uniforms.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26The beds are in the great hall but also in the solar,
0:10:26 > 0:10:31so their two big, important reception rooms are taken away from them.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34They live here while you have all the nurses and doctors running
0:10:34 > 0:10:36around and patients -
0:10:36 > 0:10:39which must have been quite intrusive to their family life.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43One of my favourite, favourite letters in this whole collection
0:10:43 > 0:10:46is a letter written clearly by the manager
0:10:46 > 0:10:50of the Red Cross hospital here, writing to Daisy,
0:10:50 > 0:10:54and it says, "Dear Mrs Lloyd, would you please suggest where we are
0:10:54 > 0:10:57"to keep the umbrellas belonging to the staff in future?
0:10:57 > 0:11:00"We've kept them in the porch ever since the hospital was opened
0:11:00 > 0:11:02"and no complaints have been made.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07"Now they are hurled into the ward by your orders, I suppose.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09"It's quite impossible to keep them
0:11:09 > 0:11:11"in the ward with all the surgical cases."
0:11:11 > 0:11:15You can imagine that Daisy didn't like the idea
0:11:15 > 0:11:18that someone else was in charge of her house.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20You can just imagine her walking past seeing this
0:11:20 > 0:11:24mess of umbrellas and, you know, hurling them into the ward.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26There are patients lying in bed here.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Daisy was perfectly suited to the role of family matriarch.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33She relished the responsibility
0:11:33 > 0:11:37and power that came with being a wife and mother, writing,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40"When I was 12 or 13, I conceived a secret ambition to be
0:11:40 > 0:11:45"the best mother in the world and have the most beautiful children.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48"If I hadn't married I would have been a schoolmarm.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50"Instead I had a class of six."
0:11:51 > 0:11:55And, in an age when the battle for sexual equality was just brewing,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Daisy stood toe to toe with her older successful husband.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02She's very much equal to Nathaniel.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04For example, when they marry, one condition
0:12:04 > 0:12:09from her side is that they're going to spend, each year, a month apart,
0:12:09 > 0:12:13where each partner is allowed to do whatever they like to do.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18So, Nathaniel goes off golfing and she goes off and sees her friends
0:12:18 > 0:12:23in Europe, with the kids, but that's a condition when they marry in 1905.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25You know, it's quite something.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Daisy was the mistress of a remarkable home.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35Ideally, an Arts and Crafts house and garden were designed
0:12:35 > 0:12:39by the same person and Dixter's architect, Edwin Lutyens,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43managed seamlessly to integrate the two into a single entity.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47To try and understand how he achieved this, garden designer
0:12:47 > 0:12:52Chris Beardshaw has got his hands on Lutyens' original designs.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03There's no doubt that the garden, the success of the garden today,
0:13:03 > 0:13:09is totally reliant on the structure that Lutyens originally imposed.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12The house sits within the six-acre site,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15and then, off the house,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18come a series of compartments, a series of enclosures
0:13:18 > 0:13:21each with its own little narrative suggestion.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25There's a stone paved area, flower borders, long borders.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30So, he's allowing the spatial arrangement of the property
0:13:30 > 0:13:33to then move outside into the landscape.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35So to the rear of the property,
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Lutyens has it as a series of straight-line paths linking -
0:13:39 > 0:13:43visually linking - one section of the garden with the next,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46the borders with the loggia, which was the old rose garden.
0:13:48 > 0:13:49A very formal line of trees
0:13:49 > 0:13:52disappearing down towards the lower moat.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Lutyens' garden wraps itself around the old manor house,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03embracing the sloping terrain and the old buildings.
0:14:05 > 0:14:06At the centre of the front garden
0:14:06 > 0:14:08is an entrance path and small meadow.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13To the right, there are two walled rooms,
0:14:13 > 0:14:17and, to the left, there's a series of stepped compartments
0:14:17 > 0:14:18with yew hedges.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23All these spaces are secluded and look inwards
0:14:23 > 0:14:25but never lose touch with the house.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32At the back and outside of these formal rooms
0:14:32 > 0:14:35is one of Dixter's most famous features -
0:14:35 > 0:14:37the celebrated long border,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40which runs almost the entire width of the garden.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55Below, there are rolling meadows and orchards that open up the garden
0:14:55 > 0:14:57to the countryside,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01a walled rose garden and a topiary lawn.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Lutyens didn't actually prescribe much detail for these spaces,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07but he didn't need to.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10His brilliant design gave the garden its bone structure
0:15:10 > 0:15:14and the Lloyds a perfect canvas to express their personality and ideas.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Alan Power has been examining the role
0:15:19 > 0:15:21that yew hedges play in the garden.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27These hedges, these yew hedges at Dixter really form
0:15:27 > 0:15:29the bone structure of the garden.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34Up close, they're fine, beautiful foliage, really delicate,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37but actually from a distance it just blends into this dark green
0:15:37 > 0:15:40backdrop that complements the colour of the perennials
0:15:40 > 0:15:42in the garden brilliantly.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46You have this lovely relationship between plants and backdrop.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49But their function goes much, much further.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53They actually separate every garden room at Dixter.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56You walk from room to room, experience to experience
0:15:56 > 0:16:00and it's separated and controlled by these yew hedges.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10It's quite a moment when you come round the corner there
0:16:10 > 0:16:15and there's this dramatic level change and, you know,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18I had to take a breath before I stepped through the gap, just
0:16:18 > 0:16:23to prepare myself for the next step, the next compartment, the next room.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26It makes you feel as if you're standing on the stage yourself.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30You emerge from the walls, you emerge from the yew hedges.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34Standing on the stage, you view it as if you're the director and then you
0:16:34 > 0:16:38descend right into the garden and you're utterly immersed yourself.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42Walking through this garden
0:16:42 > 0:16:45is like attending an extraordinary performance.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48The yew hedges can seem overpowering,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51directing where you go and what you see.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54But in high summer even they struggle to contain
0:16:54 > 0:16:58the exuberant planting and colours that flood through Great Dixter,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01as Chris Beardshaw has been discovering.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06This isn't a garden for anybody who has a fear of confined spaces.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11There's plants just tumbling over one another and in many cases
0:17:11 > 0:17:16it's not even clear if the path is for a gardener or a visitor.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19It's almost as if it's just a little river, a stream
0:17:19 > 0:17:22which has carved a passage through.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31In a garden with this sort of intensity and density of planting,
0:17:31 > 0:17:37the intensity has to be balanced by space, by openness,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40by the meadows and the distant views of the landscape.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44You need that contrast in order to just catch your breath,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47otherwise the whole thing would just become far too intense.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Stepping out of the high garden is like coming up for air.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57For the first time, you can see open sky
0:17:57 > 0:18:01and the rolling countryside that surrounds Great Dixter.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04You're suddenly in a different world dominated by one of the most
0:18:04 > 0:18:09beautiful and unique features - the wild meadows.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14Unrestrained and overflowing with wild flowers and insects,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16the meadows are a perfect counterpoint
0:18:16 > 0:18:19to the claustrophobia of the upper gardens.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23And now we're taking the hay and the seed from here
0:18:23 > 0:18:25and spreading it onto the various fields that we've got,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28and then our neighbours are doing the same so meadows are starting
0:18:28 > 0:18:31to spread out into the landscape from here.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35And that's pretty important for many reasons,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38because they are a thing of the past.
0:18:38 > 0:18:4198% of these species-rich meadows, lowland meadows,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45have disappeared in this country since the Second World War.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51The meadows were created by Daisy Lloyd, who rejected
0:18:51 > 0:18:55the formality of Lutyens' plans for traditional lawns
0:18:55 > 0:18:58in favour of something wilder and less conventional.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Daisy spent her life gathering wild flowers
0:19:02 > 0:19:05to make her meadows richer and more beautiful.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09But her inspiration came from a hugely influential gardener
0:19:09 > 0:19:11and writer called William Robinson.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Born in Ireland in 1838, Robinson moved to London
0:19:15 > 0:19:18as a young man, quickly earning a reputation
0:19:18 > 0:19:21as a brilliant botanist and gardener.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25By his mid-20s he'd been on expeditions to the American prairies
0:19:25 > 0:19:28and the Alps, studying plants in the wild
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and was corresponding with Charles Darwin.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35Outspoken, opinionated and fiercely energetic,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39by the age of 30, he was publishing his own gardening magazine,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42which he followed with his first book, The Wild Garden.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45The Wild Garden became a best seller,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49helping Robinson earn enough money to buy a country house
0:19:49 > 0:19:52in West Sussex called Gravetye Manor.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55In the opening chapter, he set out his stall.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59"The gardener must follow the true artist, however modestly,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01"in his respect for things as they are,
0:20:01 > 0:20:06"in delight of natural form and beauty of flower and tree,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09"if we are to be free from barren geometry,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11"if our gardens are for ever to be true pictures."
0:20:13 > 0:20:17He spent the next 40 years transforming the grounds and gardens
0:20:17 > 0:20:20into a living illustration of his ideas.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24At Gravetye, Robinson encouraged untidy edges,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27to allow the garden to blend into the larger landscape.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30He grew wild meadows where the garden
0:20:30 > 0:20:33appeared to merge into the surrounding woodland and lake.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Robinson was a fierce critic of carpet bedding,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42a flamboyant, high Victorian style of gardening,
0:20:42 > 0:20:44which was typified by densely packed,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48brightly coloured planting set in geometric patterns.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54In stark contrast, in his garden, he used hardy perennial plants
0:20:54 > 0:20:58which were encouraged to express their true nature and personality
0:20:58 > 0:21:01but under the subtle and almost invisible hand of the gardener.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11His book's popularity was largely due to Robinson's promise
0:21:11 > 0:21:14that wild gardening could be easy and beautiful,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16and that it followed nature,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19which he considered the source of all true design.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25Robinson's philosophy really struck a chord with Daisy Lloyd,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and at Great Dixter the influence of his radical ideas
0:21:28 > 0:21:30is still very clear.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38There's a wonderful informality of that landscape
0:21:38 > 0:21:41sweeping into the garden without any obstacle -
0:21:41 > 0:21:43no fence, no ha-ha, no barrier.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46The meadows sweep straight into the herbaceous borders.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Yes, absolutely and for some people that doesn't work
0:21:49 > 0:21:52cos they want this wild area to be behind a fence,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54you know, behind the garden wall.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Because that's the countryside and this should be a garden
0:21:57 > 0:22:00and this should be a formal lawn with formal avenues and trees,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and I think they're absolutely wrong
0:22:02 > 0:22:06because this creates a certain atmosphere where the countryside
0:22:06 > 0:22:10wallops in and the whole thing floats in all of this.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15The wild meadows are Daisy Lloyd's greatest legacy at Dixter.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Her husband, Nathaniel, was drawn to something
0:22:18 > 0:22:21much more structured and architectural.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25His great passion was box hedging and topiary.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Nathaniel filled the garden with his obsession,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31creating some of its most distinctive characters
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and even writing a book about it that's still in print today.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46I really do love topiary. It's very entertaining in a garden.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49And it's like in the gardens of the 18th century
0:22:49 > 0:22:52when you'd see statues as you walk around the garden,
0:22:52 > 0:22:54in the garden here you come across topiary.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57And topiary in its essence is a very simple way
0:22:57 > 0:23:00of creating structure within a garden.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03It's not a magnificent marble statue,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06it's soft, it's gentle, it's very, very playful.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08You can see a little bit of the sense of humour,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12you can see a little bit of the person behind the place, as well.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14You can see the skills of a gardener.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17The practical, functional skills of getting it right.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20I've got a picture of this area in the garden from not long after
0:23:20 > 0:23:23the garden was created and you've got the yews,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25the shape of the yew just establishing itself,
0:23:25 > 0:23:30and you can see on a couple of them that the tip of the plant has been
0:23:30 > 0:23:35allowed to come up and the foliage on the top has just been teased out.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38That's when the fun starts, really, and that's the point
0:23:38 > 0:23:41at which you decide, what am I going to have on top of my topiary?
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Is it going to be a peacock? Is it going to be a canary?
0:23:43 > 0:23:45You know, what are you going to have?
0:23:45 > 0:23:47There was a medley of birds on top of these,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49which would have been really lovely.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56This remarkable garden had been taking shape for ten years
0:23:56 > 0:24:00by the time that Christopher Lloyd was born in 1921.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Christo, as he became known, was the sixth and last child of Daisy
0:24:10 > 0:24:15and Nathaniel, and he would make Great Dixter world famous.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19His first sight of what would become his life's greatest work
0:24:19 > 0:24:23was from the crawling window in the nursery.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26This has been specially designed by Edwin Lutyens to allow
0:24:26 > 0:24:30the Lloyd infants to look out on the garden as soon as they could crawl.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Right from the start Daisy seemed intent on sharing her passion
0:24:39 > 0:24:41for gardening with her youngest son.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50I was the only one who really took any interest in the garden,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52but I did right from the start,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54so it must have been in my blood.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59And I used to devil for her - if you know that expression?
0:24:59 > 0:25:04I used to stand near her when she was pricking plants out
0:25:04 > 0:25:09on the potting bench and pretend to be helping.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Of course, like all children, I think I was lazy,
0:25:13 > 0:25:15but I was definitely interested.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21Daisy Lloyd taught her son embroidery and letter writing
0:25:21 > 0:25:26but, more importantly, she taught him the language of plants.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Under her loving gaze he began a lifelong study of their colours,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33shapes and textures.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Their habits, likes and dislikes.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Andrea Wulf has been searching through the Great Dixter archives
0:25:43 > 0:25:46to discover more about this formative relationship
0:25:46 > 0:25:48between Christopher and his mother.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55There are hundreds and hundreds of letters within the family
0:25:55 > 0:25:58and there's a huge pile between Christopher and his mother,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01and they start very early on and they write letters
0:26:01 > 0:26:04to each other almost daily, sometimes she writes twice a day to him.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08Most of it is about gardening from a very early age on.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10So, for example, here's one letter.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13It's not dated, but you can tell from the handwriting
0:26:13 > 0:26:17that Christopher can't be older than six, I would say.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19And he writes, "My dear Mummy,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21"I was the first to see the Rhododendron out.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24"I was the first to see the Spiderwort.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25"My lily is 12 inch.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28"I was the first to see the Dutch iris..."
0:26:28 > 0:26:29And it kind of goes on like this.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32And it has all around it Xs for kisses
0:26:32 > 0:26:34and lots and lots of suns.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37So clearly, as a young child he's already
0:26:37 > 0:26:41unbelievably passionate about his garden.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44In later life, when Christo became a celebrated writer,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46he would credit letter writing and his mother
0:26:46 > 0:26:48for giving him his gift for words.
0:26:50 > 0:26:51But from the very beginning,
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Daisy built a remarkably close bond with her younger son.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00There is one letter from March 1929, and she writes,
0:27:00 > 0:27:04"My own darling, beloved, precious lambikin birthday child!"
0:27:04 > 0:27:06So "lambikin" is what she calls him
0:27:06 > 0:27:09and then she describes this scene where she's in a car
0:27:09 > 0:27:12and the car's standing outside a house in a village.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16And then she says, "And Daddy is inside taking photographs,"
0:27:16 > 0:27:20because he was a passionate amateur photographer, and then she writes,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23"And there are hundreds of snowdrops..."
0:27:23 > 0:27:27She also calls them "Schneeglockchen" which is the German word for it.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29"..in the front garden and I am longing..."
0:27:29 > 0:27:31underline, "..longing to pick them."
0:27:31 > 0:27:32And then in brackets,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36"So now you know where a certain person get his flower greed from!"
0:27:37 > 0:27:40She writes to him already relating to him
0:27:40 > 0:27:43as, you know, the two of us, we're the same.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46We're both passionate about our garden
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and talks about this flower greed.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52What I find extraordinary about this is that it creates this bond.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56But also when you read her letters to him she writes to him
0:27:56 > 0:27:59as if she was writing to another adult gardener,
0:27:59 > 0:28:01but she's doing that with an eight-year-old,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03nine-year-old, ten-year-old.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08And he replies almost as an adult gardener would reply.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11At the age of nine, Christo was sent away to prep school,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13and for the next 70 years,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17he remembered that day as one of the most traumatic in his life.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Christo may have been out of Daisy's sight,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22but their daily correspondence made certain
0:28:22 > 0:28:25that she and Great Dixter were never far from his mind.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30And then when you go on, this is in 1931
0:28:30 > 0:28:32and he's writing from boarding school.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34"Thank you, Mummy, so much for the flowers.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39"Please carry on sending me as big a box as you did this week
0:28:39 > 0:28:41"and please go on picking my daisies and French pansies
0:28:41 > 0:28:46"like you must have picked the daisies when you sent them to me."
0:28:46 > 0:28:49She's clearly sending him flower boxes now,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52and he's also giving her instructions,
0:28:52 > 0:28:55what to do with his flowers here at Great Dixter.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00This little boy's instructions to his mother
0:29:00 > 0:29:05hint at the powerful gardener Christopher would eventually become,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08but he would struggle for decades to make the garden his own.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16After school, Christo studied modern languages at Cambridge,
0:29:16 > 0:29:17but World War II intervened.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22Christo was sent to Africa and India
0:29:22 > 0:29:26while his beloved Great Dixter became home for evacuee children.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34After an uneventful war, he finished his degree and came home.
0:29:36 > 0:29:41By now in his mid-20s, Christo was struggling to come to terms
0:29:41 > 0:29:42with his sexuality.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Homosexual in orientation, he lived in an age when same-sex
0:29:46 > 0:29:50relationships were not just a social taboo - they were illegal.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55He was equally unsure about his path in life.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58To a young upper middle class man,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01gardening was not considered a proper profession.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05But Christo decided to abandon propriety and try and make a career
0:30:05 > 0:30:09from the one thing he was genuinely passionate about.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14By his late 20s, he'd got a degree in horticulture from Wye College.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17Christopher was ready to begin transforming Great Dixter
0:30:17 > 0:30:19and the world of gardening.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22But first he would have to wrest control of the garden
0:30:22 > 0:30:25from the most powerful figure in his life.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29He said to me that she could be infuriating and,
0:30:29 > 0:30:34and there were often power struggles between her and him in the garden.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38But later on as, as he became more experienced and of course
0:30:38 > 0:30:41he took that formal training at Wye College and had the confidence
0:30:41 > 0:30:46of that formal training, he had the upper hand over his mother.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48And there was, he made it clear that there was
0:30:48 > 0:30:49a bit of a power struggle there,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53but he suddenly became the person who ruled the garden.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55But they gardened together side by side.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57And not just gardened together -
0:30:57 > 0:31:00they read together, they did needlework together,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03all of those things, and so they were extremely close.
0:31:09 > 0:31:14Christo's first great battle ground was the famous long border.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Dividing the upper garden from the meadows below,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21it ran almost the entire width of the garden.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Under Daisy's iron rule it had become of the garden's
0:31:24 > 0:31:26most celebrated features.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29It drew its inspiration from one of greatest gardeners of all time,
0:31:29 > 0:31:31Gertrude Jekyll.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35Jekyll's impressionistic use of colour and texture
0:31:35 > 0:31:37revolutionised garden design,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40as seen here in her garden at Munstead Wood.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46By studying in great detail the shapes and forms of plants,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49she began to combine them in subtle new ways, breaking away from
0:31:49 > 0:31:53the brashness and rigidity of the popular Victorian planting style.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57She was a prolific writer, contributing to Country Life
0:31:57 > 0:32:00and writing a hugely influential chapter on colour
0:32:00 > 0:32:03in William Robinson's bestseller The Wild Garden.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07She commissioned the architect Edwin Lutyens
0:32:07 > 0:32:10to design a home for her garden at Munstead Wood.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16It began a collaboration that produced some of the most
0:32:16 > 0:32:19famous houses and gardens of the time.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23Jekyll's philosophy shaped Lutyens and his designs
0:32:23 > 0:32:25and she created planting schemes
0:32:25 > 0:32:28for many of his most famous commissions.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30But not Great Dixter.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34It seems that Daisy Lloyd wanted to put her own stamp on the garden,
0:32:34 > 0:32:37so Jekyll was never actively involved, though the Lloyds
0:32:37 > 0:32:40bought plants from her and drew inspiration from her ideas.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49However, by the time that Christopher came into his own,
0:32:49 > 0:32:50a rebellion was brewing.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56One of the principle points of deviation from Gertrude Jekyll
0:32:56 > 0:33:00is the way in which the plants were encouraged to migrate
0:33:00 > 0:33:03towards the front of the garden.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06In a Jekyll border, it would be unusual to find something as
0:33:06 > 0:33:11majestic as the purple fennel here right on the edge of the border.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13We'd anticipate it being further back.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16There was a polite choreography to her designs
0:33:16 > 0:33:20which allowed sufficient space for the large specimens at the back
0:33:20 > 0:33:23and then gentle tiering and weaving until we have something like
0:33:23 > 0:33:26the salvia tickling our ankles as we walk along the pathway here.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29But what Christopher Lloyd was able to do
0:33:29 > 0:33:31was to bring these plants to the fore
0:33:31 > 0:33:34so we start to peer behind them and around them.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38As we look through, we get just glimpses of the roses,
0:33:38 > 0:33:40the cannas and the teasels beyond.
0:33:40 > 0:33:46So in design terms it's a veil which just serves to entice
0:33:46 > 0:33:51and create an air of mystery and encourage that sense of exploration.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55Christopher's designs still had a direct relationship with Jekyll,
0:33:55 > 0:33:57but he moved them on to a new level.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01Yet what Christopher Lloyd did is to then take that principle
0:34:01 > 0:34:05of looking at detail and explode it up into,
0:34:05 > 0:34:10not just a more grand scale, but be much more just ambitious,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13less concerned about shocking the viewer
0:34:13 > 0:34:18and more interested in creating, in a way, the view of spontaneity.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22So a rudbeckia here, the flower form and its wonderful
0:34:22 > 0:34:25sunflower-like structure with black centres -
0:34:25 > 0:34:29suddenly when we look back into the border we see an inula
0:34:29 > 0:34:32with exactly the same shape and form,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35and then forward again to a helianthus.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39Three plants of different flower colours, different structures,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43but there's enough harmony between the three to create
0:34:43 > 0:34:46that wonderful bounce, and it's about getting the eye to move.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49If we can allow the eye to move through a garden
0:34:49 > 0:34:51then the feet of the viewer will follow.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02This adventurous approach to combining plants is largely
0:35:02 > 0:35:06what has made Christopher Lloyd and Great Dixter famous.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Look what I found.
0:35:10 > 0:35:11Salvia splendens Red Arrow.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17Today, Fergus encourages his team to have that same analytical eye
0:35:17 > 0:35:21and apply that spirit of experiment throughout the garden.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23They're quite tall, salvias,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26they're splendens types so they could come in useful.
0:35:26 > 0:35:27Sounds nice.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33One of Dixter's most famous features that provides the perfect
0:35:33 > 0:35:37opportunity to hone those skills is the pot displays.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43At the front of the house, two of Fergus's team,
0:35:43 > 0:35:44Rachael and Yannick,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48are remodelling the display around the medieval porch.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52- Do you want to have the iris in the back?- Yes.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00Show gardening and bedding displays is a bit similar,
0:36:00 > 0:36:01but this is even more instant.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04You wait until the plants are looking good or just about
0:36:04 > 0:36:06to look good and then play with them,
0:36:06 > 0:36:08so it's quite fun. It's quite fun.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12And it's nice that they change regularly because
0:36:12 > 0:36:15it really frees you up to try things out.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18There's so much colour and excitement coming on
0:36:18 > 0:36:20into these and it's great to use.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22- You see we've got that blue over there.- Yeah.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Shall we stick a bit more blue with it?
0:36:25 > 0:36:28A lot of the fun we have here is about contrasting plants.
0:36:28 > 0:36:35Whether that's through their form, their texture, their colour,
0:36:35 > 0:36:38and that's how we do our pot displays, as well.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41I mean, sometimes they harmonise and that can be nice,
0:36:41 > 0:36:45but more often than not we try and put things next to each other,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48which excite the eye so your eye sort of...
0:36:48 > 0:36:51It's made to work your eye.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53Your eye is constantly made to work.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55It makes you question things.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Why is this working? Because they're not always complementary colours.
0:37:01 > 0:37:02No, that's too far.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06Some white over here would be good.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09OK, well, we've got the grass here.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14- More calendulas there? - Yes, let's try them.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23This doesn't really work, does it?
0:37:23 > 0:37:24Not yet.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32Christo's growing mastery of colour gave him the confidence
0:37:32 > 0:37:35to step out of his predecessor's shadow
0:37:35 > 0:37:39and begin to reshape the garden to his own tastes.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42The neatly clipped putting lawn and topiary at the back of the house
0:37:42 > 0:37:44had always epitomised his father, Nathaniel.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50Christo decided to convert the lawn into a wild meadow
0:37:50 > 0:37:53transforming this part of the garden by counterpointing
0:37:53 > 0:37:57his father's traditional formality with a new freedom.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12As he grew even bolder and more confident,
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Christo took on other parts of his father's legacy.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21In 1921, Christopher's father, Nathaniel,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25created his own signature section of the garden.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27On Lutyens' plans this area was set out
0:38:27 > 0:38:30as a simple rectangular croquet lawn.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35But drawing on his design experience and passion for architecture,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Nathaniel created what became known as the sunk garden.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42This had been softened by Daisy,
0:38:42 > 0:38:46but it was Christo who really transformed this part of the garden.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52Today it vividly illustrates a century of the garden's evolution.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05This is the sunken garden and it's perhaps one of those areas
0:39:05 > 0:39:08which best describes the layers of history of this garden,
0:39:08 > 0:39:14and the way that the design and the plantsmanship has changed over time.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16Lutyens had this down just as a simple green space
0:39:16 > 0:39:20with a path all the way around the edge and enclosed by,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22not just the barns, but also a yew hedge.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26And then Nathaniel's version which came a little later.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29He modified the paths, he made them much more intimate
0:39:29 > 0:39:33and intricate, he changed the topography, imposed the pond,
0:39:33 > 0:39:35and as soon as Christopher gets involved,
0:39:35 > 0:39:39well, that's when the explosion really starts to happen.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42The plants loom overhead, they bounce out of the ground,
0:39:42 > 0:39:44they're hugely excitable,
0:39:44 > 0:39:47the colour combinations are wild and enthusiastic.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53As Great Dixter and Christo went from strength to strength,
0:39:53 > 0:39:56word of his growing virtuosity spread fast.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00Christo had always been comfortable with pen and paper
0:40:00 > 0:40:02so when the magazine Country Life approached him
0:40:02 > 0:40:05to write a weekly article, he didn't hesitate.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08With Great Dixter as his muse and laboratory,
0:40:08 > 0:40:11it was the beginning of a brilliant new career.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18It was 42 years ago that I started writing
0:40:18 > 0:40:20every week for Country Life.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23So that's half my life.
0:40:23 > 0:40:29Once I'm confident about my subject and have mapped out
0:40:29 > 0:40:33what I want to say, I can get it down very quickly.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40"If a plant bores you, something must be done about it.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44"The simplest course, if it belongs to you, is to throw it out.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47"If it is someone else's, look the other way.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50"If it belongs to someone you rather dislike anyway,
0:40:50 > 0:40:55"don't be ashamed to let it confirm you in an inclusive repulsion."
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Christopher's writing raised his profile and brought him
0:40:59 > 0:41:03to the attention of some of the most brilliant gardeners around.
0:41:03 > 0:41:07By the time he wrote his classic book, The Well Tempered Garden,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Beth Chatto had already carved a reputation for herself
0:41:10 > 0:41:15as a designer and writer, but his words made a remarkable impression.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17I was absolutely bowled over by it,
0:41:17 > 0:41:22I'd never read a book, a gardening book, so personal, so...
0:41:22 > 0:41:23and so entertaining,
0:41:23 > 0:41:25but also so stimulating, you know.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29I mean, he made outrageous remarks and, erm...
0:41:29 > 0:41:34Well, I took pen to paper for the first time ever to an author
0:41:34 > 0:41:39and wrote to him, and while I admired it and said why,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42I said, "But I can't agree with you over begonias."
0:41:42 > 0:41:46Certainly Christopher couldn't stand them, and I can't do without them,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49so I wrote and told him so.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52He wrote back, "Come to lunch," so I did.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57Beth's personality and garden couldn't have been more different
0:41:57 > 0:41:59from those of Christopher and Dixter.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Unlike him, she hadn't inherited a garden
0:42:02 > 0:42:06but created it from scratch just a decade before they first met.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08Inspired by environmental ideas
0:42:08 > 0:42:11and her husband's botanical expertise,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14she transformed a couple of fields on the family fruit farm
0:42:14 > 0:42:18into one of the most unique and innovative gardens in the world.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23Working with difficult terrain and land that was too dry to farm,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27she used her brilliant knowledge of plants to create a garden
0:42:27 > 0:42:31that required no watering and very little maintenance.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34Called the dry garden, it became famous all over the world
0:42:34 > 0:42:38and over the next decade she extended her garden to include
0:42:38 > 0:42:42a range of innovative and environmentally sensitive designs.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45Our styles of gardening, yes, they are very different,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48and now and again he'd get fed up with me, you know,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51"Oh, for goodness' sake, do stop talking about ecology!"
0:42:52 > 0:42:55In sharp contrast to Christo and Dixter,
0:42:55 > 0:42:59Beth Chatto's gardens are serene and delicately composed
0:42:59 > 0:43:03but, despite the contrast - or maybe because of it -
0:43:03 > 0:43:04they became firm friends.
0:43:04 > 0:43:09I regularly stayed with him and we did lectures together.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13We went to Australia, New Zealand, America and various places,
0:43:13 > 0:43:19and of course we were obviously connected up to be shown off
0:43:19 > 0:43:23to other people's gardens, and these people were all expecting,
0:43:23 > 0:43:27you know, Chatto and Christopher to arrive, and...
0:43:27 > 0:43:31And then Christopher would make some outrageous remark
0:43:31 > 0:43:33by going round a corner and saying,
0:43:33 > 0:43:35"What are you thinking of doing with this?"
0:43:35 > 0:43:40And the poor woman would literally blanch in front of you, you know,
0:43:40 > 0:43:44and I would pull his coat tails, tell him off afterwards.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00In 1972, Christopher's mother, Daisy, died at the age of 91.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03Daisy always had always maintained
0:44:03 > 0:44:06that people made too much of money and death,
0:44:06 > 0:44:08so there was no funeral,
0:44:08 > 0:44:12and the day after she passed away, Christopher drove up to Scotland
0:44:12 > 0:44:14to give a lecture on hardy perennials.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18For more than half a century she had dominated his world,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21so it must have been a huge loss.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23But, for the first time in his life,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Christopher was truly the master of his own destiny.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30I'll take a different approach to stirring.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38He often talked about the past and he would tell you what
0:44:38 > 0:44:43a terribly shy person he was when he was younger, and that was in some
0:44:43 > 0:44:48ways difficult to believe because he was so outgoing
0:44:48 > 0:44:52and so forthright and so much could be the life and soul of the party.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57I think before his mother died, his life was with her,
0:44:57 > 0:45:00and afterwards it was like discovering...
0:45:00 > 0:45:03I suppose, in a way, it was like a young person
0:45:03 > 0:45:06discovering new things about life, so he discovered friends,
0:45:06 > 0:45:11he discovered wine, champagne, whisky, the good things in life.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14I think having the house full brought him to life.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27And he'd have these parties and they grew until he...
0:45:27 > 0:45:28I think Christo started
0:45:28 > 0:45:30to get confident in himself.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34I think the weekend visit here that took me most by surprise and
0:45:34 > 0:45:39sticks in the mind is when he said, "We've got Paul McCartney coming,"
0:45:39 > 0:45:41and I went quiet.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44He said, "You know those, the pop combo, the Beatles?"
0:45:48 > 0:45:52The gist of it was, a group of people would get together,
0:45:52 > 0:45:57so you could find yourself spending the weekend literally
0:45:57 > 0:46:00with a bookbinder, an opera singer,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03a cellist, a gardener,
0:46:03 > 0:46:07an embroiderer, and a glazier,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10a basket maker, a potter,
0:46:10 > 0:46:14a carpenter, a bricklayer, another gardener.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18Brilliant! You know, that was Christo.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27'Humour was the thing that really sparked.'
0:46:27 > 0:46:32He had this wonderful laugh that would just fill the room
0:46:32 > 0:46:35and you might say something to him
0:46:35 > 0:46:39and you thought, "Oh, I've gone a bit too far here."
0:46:39 > 0:46:42And he'd sort of look down and look over his glasses,
0:46:42 > 0:46:43and then he'd erupt into laughter.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46But do you remember
0:46:46 > 0:46:49when he started putting plants out on the porch,
0:46:49 > 0:46:51someone sidled up to him and said
0:46:51 > 0:46:55"Do you realise to grow cannabis is illegal?"
0:46:55 > 0:46:59"What?" "It's illegal, Mr Lloyd."
0:46:59 > 0:47:02"That's a very good foliage plant."
0:47:02 > 0:47:06"All the same, Mr Lloyd, I think you ought to..."
0:47:06 > 0:47:08And it is a good foliage plant!
0:47:13 > 0:47:18He was so forthright in what he said but that was,
0:47:18 > 0:47:23it was a sort of a challenge, everything you said was questioned
0:47:23 > 0:47:28and it was just a wonderful sort of, you know, exchange.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31I sort of think of it, in a way, a bit like a boxing match, you know.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35'But, oh, some of the happiest memories.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38'One evening Christopher and his young friend,'
0:47:38 > 0:47:42they were playing Brahms duets, and I sat by the fire,
0:47:42 > 0:47:45and there was no light except the standard lamp
0:47:45 > 0:47:49which stood by the piano, but I was sitting at the other end of the room
0:47:49 > 0:47:54by the fire, and all the sparks kept going up in the darkness, you see,
0:47:54 > 0:47:57and that's remained with me for a long, long time.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00That's what, in some ways, Dixter was to me -
0:48:00 > 0:48:05the sparks...coming off from everywhere,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07the garden, the house, the people.
0:48:11 > 0:48:16You're not living in a vacuum, and I think people are -
0:48:16 > 0:48:19although it sounds extraordinary -
0:48:19 > 0:48:23I think people are more important than plants.
0:48:23 > 0:48:24And I never forget that.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34Added to his hectic social life, Christopher continued to write books
0:48:34 > 0:48:37and articles as well as lecturing all over the world.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40Great Dixter continued to be a source of inspiration.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44But by the time Christopher reached his 70s, the relentless
0:48:44 > 0:48:46intensity of the Dixter style of gardening
0:48:46 > 0:48:48was beginning to exhaust even him.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51He and the garden needed fresh blood.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56At this stage, you look at this and say, well, actually,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59I should have another dollop of red the other side, at the far end.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02I should have a bigger dollop of magenta here,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05maybe carry another blue over to there.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Maybe have another one of those grasses,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11those Spanish oat grasses here, so that you look through it like that.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13This is when you do your adjustments,
0:49:13 > 0:49:15and they all go into a notebook
0:49:15 > 0:49:18and you make those adjustments over the winter
0:49:18 > 0:49:20and then next year, you've got something, a better picture.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26In 1993, Christo invited a brilliant young gardener
0:49:26 > 0:49:30called Fergus Garrett to come to work at Great Dixter.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33Their extraordinary collaboration would raise the garden
0:49:33 > 0:49:36to new heights, freeing Christo to express his talent
0:49:36 > 0:49:38in a way that had never been possible.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42I'll take this baby up. Wah!
0:49:43 > 0:49:47'Fergus brought a new vitality.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51'He gave Christopher that tremendous passion,'
0:49:51 > 0:49:56and, I mean, I'm sure Christopher had it already,
0:49:56 > 0:49:58but no, something changed.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01They certainly blossomed enormously.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04With his new protege, Fergus, by his side,
0:50:04 > 0:50:08Christopher was ready to finally break free from the past.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11He began by turning his gaze to one of the most
0:50:11 > 0:50:13traditional parts of the garden.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17This is the exotic garden, or tropical garden,
0:50:17 > 0:50:18or sub-tropical garden.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23Some people call it the old rose garden, it used to be a rose garden
0:50:23 > 0:50:27and was for many decades, until I think it was 1993
0:50:27 > 0:50:31when Christopher thought that he should get rid of the roses.
0:50:31 > 0:50:36He decided to have an idea of just creating another world,
0:50:36 > 0:50:42if you like, so we'd been seeing a lot of tropical planting around
0:50:42 > 0:50:47so we decided to do something that mimicked the jungle.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49For 80 years, the old rose garden
0:50:49 > 0:50:53had been a celebrated feature in Great Dixter.
0:50:53 > 0:50:58Designed by Lutyens and surrounded by Nathaniel's yew hedges,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01its ten beds filled with Daisy's favourite roses,
0:51:01 > 0:51:03the Rose Garden epitomised the people
0:51:03 > 0:51:05that shaped Christo and Dixter.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10With the help of his new partner in crime, he ripped it out.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15Christo described the moment in Country Life.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18"The rending noise of huge old roots reminded me
0:51:18 > 0:51:22"of a hyena devouring a plank of wood."
0:51:25 > 0:51:27There was a big hoo-hah, how could he destroy
0:51:27 > 0:51:32an old rose garden, and so on, and people jumped on the bandwagon
0:51:32 > 0:51:35of saying, "Well, Lloyd's gone mad."
0:51:35 > 0:51:37Suddenly he's ripping out the whole of Dixter
0:51:37 > 0:51:39and all this stuff was written,
0:51:39 > 0:51:41and he enjoyed that, and wrote about it
0:51:41 > 0:51:44and sort of poked fun at those people.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50'Christopher was like a small boy running away with an idea,
0:51:50 > 0:51:51'and he's been encouraged with that'
0:51:51 > 0:51:55by Fergus, and Fergus, the young man, the energy -
0:51:55 > 0:51:57it was a wonderful combination.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02Each year since then the exotic garden is replanted.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06I want something that's going to stop your eye.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09I'm thinking I've got a tall yucca
0:52:09 > 0:52:12that'll paint the sky, as Beth Chatto calls it.
0:52:14 > 0:52:15Maggie, can you just right it?
0:52:17 > 0:52:19Just push it back a bit.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22No, just tilt it back, Maggie.
0:52:22 > 0:52:23Yeah, I like it there.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27'One of the things he did teach me was to use my eyes, to analyse,
0:52:27 > 0:52:29'and see things through his eyes'
0:52:29 > 0:52:33of how and why things work or don't work.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37But also he wanted me to be my own person, as well,
0:52:37 > 0:52:41and gardening in a way became easy, very easy,
0:52:41 > 0:52:43because you gardened as if it was your own garden.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46So I'd say to him, "You know, Christo, I don't think that works,"
0:52:46 > 0:52:49and he'd say, "I think it does work," and so there would be the discussion.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51why do you think pink and orange work?
0:52:51 > 0:52:54What about the different tones? What about the amount of green there?
0:52:54 > 0:52:56And all those sorts of things.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59So he sort of fine-tuned me and developed me,
0:52:59 > 0:53:01and then towards the end of his time here
0:53:01 > 0:53:03he just sort of let me get on with it, you know?
0:53:03 > 0:53:05He had that confidence in me,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07but I never forgot that it was his garden.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11And he was such a magician, you know, he would do the unpredictable,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14as well, so I made sure that he was in on every decision towards
0:53:14 > 0:53:17the end because he could add that sparkle and magic to it.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21We've got very nice groups of a big-leaved colocasia
0:53:21 > 0:53:25and a dark-leaved dahlia with white flowers twining.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28And then we'll have the contrast of the grey leaves around the donax.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30There's a wonderful thing over there
0:53:30 > 0:53:33you know, this cryptomeria, yeah, look.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Look at that, it's extraordinary.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42You know, if that wasn't a conifer people would be raving about it.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45I think it's just a wonderful plant, I wish I could have a grove of these,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49because it works so well with the grasses that are here with it,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52You've got a stiff canna in front of it, you see.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54Here we've got dahlias to give us colour,
0:53:54 > 0:53:56a variegated grass to give us a different shape
0:53:56 > 0:53:58and here the tree of heaven that's been cut back
0:53:58 > 0:54:00to give us those long pinnate leaves.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02And that wonderful body,
0:54:02 > 0:54:06this lovely texture of this gingko up against a palm tree.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08So that's what we're using, we're using them as objects.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12As long as it will grow here, we'll play around with it.
0:54:12 > 0:54:18He is brilliant, he is very creative in so many ways,
0:54:18 > 0:54:22and he's so much better than I am at so many things.
0:54:22 > 0:54:27Well, we are just as good friends as we could be.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29We had great fun doing this,
0:54:29 > 0:54:33and I've got really fond memories of our moments in here
0:54:33 > 0:54:36because I used to get here really early in the morning
0:54:36 > 0:54:42and Christopher would be up and having a shave in his bathroom
0:54:42 > 0:54:45over there and he'd always open the window and shout out
0:54:45 > 0:54:49to see if I was here, and I'd answer back, and then he'd come down
0:54:49 > 0:54:52in his dressing gown with a cup of tea or something like that.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54That's five o'clock, six o'clock in the morning,
0:54:54 > 0:54:57and we'd discuss a few things, he'd go back and finish
0:54:57 > 0:54:59getting ready, have his breakfast, come out here
0:54:59 > 0:55:04and we'd rope it off like we've done today, and we'd put a bed together.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08Then he'd go off and write or make bread or have guests or whatever.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11And we had this very sort of intense four or five days here of putting
0:55:11 > 0:55:15this garden together, and every year it was different.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19And so, although he's no longer here, I always feel him close to me
0:55:19 > 0:55:22when I'm doing this, especially early in the mornings.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26For over a decade, Fergus and Christo worked together
0:55:26 > 0:55:29to make Great Dixter into the most breathtaking
0:55:29 > 0:55:31and exciting garden in England.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49Their remarkable collaboration ended in 2006
0:55:49 > 0:55:53when Christo died at the age of 84 after a short illness.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Great Dixter is now managed by a charitable trust,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00and under Fergus's creative leadership
0:56:00 > 0:56:03the garden grows more vibrant and beautiful every year.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08Christo's signature act of rebellion,
0:56:08 > 0:56:13the exotic garden, epitomises the spirit of adventure
0:56:13 > 0:56:16that still pulses through Great Dixter.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22The feel is meant to be sub-tropical, or other-worldly,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25so that leaves it open to use anything
0:56:25 > 0:56:28that has got a strong character.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32Do you feel now that you're gardening in the style
0:56:32 > 0:56:36of Christopher, or do you feel as though you are your own gardener?
0:56:36 > 0:56:39I don't think about him when I'm putting plants together.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43I'm not thinking, well, would Christo approve of that?
0:56:43 > 0:56:46Or, I must do something that Christo would approve of.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48I'm just doing what I feel is right for that space,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52and I bounce ideas off other people.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55But undoubtedly I wouldn't be gardening in this style
0:56:55 > 0:56:57if it wasn't for Christopher.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00It's recognising what the strengths of a place like this is,
0:57:00 > 0:57:04and it's protecting those strengths and being free to develop
0:57:04 > 0:57:10other parts of it, in the free way that Christo did, as well.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14He was very good about recognising what made this place what it is.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18And so, in years to come, we may stand here and there may no longer
0:57:18 > 0:57:22be an exotic garden here, it may be something completely different.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24Would that be a bad change for Dixter?
0:57:24 > 0:57:26No, because Dixter's always done that.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31I think the thing is freedom of self-expression.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Be yourself, don't worry about what other people think.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06Next time, one of the grandest landscape gardens - Stowe.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10Radical, provocative, monumental, it broke free
0:58:10 > 0:58:14from centuries of formality and put English gardens centre stage.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17This is a really significant turning point.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20It is the catalyst for the most important change
0:58:20 > 0:58:22in British landscape design.