Lady Carnarvon of Highclere: ‘I walk my pony in the garden, sometimes I bring her into the house’

Lady Carnarvon with three of her eight labradors in the gardens of Highclere Castle - John Lawrence

Highclere Castle – the location for the Downton Abbey television series and films – has 1,000 acres of parkland originally designed by the renowned 18th-century landscape architect Capability Brown. Lady Carnarvon, together with her husband Geordie, 8th Earl of Carnarvon, took over the estate in 2001 and has written nine books about Highclere’s history and life today, in and around the castle; she also set up a dedicated Instagram account, which has more than 670,000 followers. Here, she discusses how she and Geordie have restored and reinvigorated the gardens over the past 24 years.

Where do you live?

Highclere Castle became the setting of the much-loved television drama Downton Abbey in 2010 - John Lawrence

Highclere Castle sits on a chalk escarpment that is relatively high up for this part of Berkshire. It’s surrounded by the greenest of lawns and is backed by long distant views that include woodlands and rolling fields. However, when you come up the main drive, you might be tempted to think, “Where are the gardens?” About 300 years ago, there were several formal gardens, including great shrubberies and large herbaceous borders at the front which led all the way round to a folly, but during the two world wars, they were grassed over. When my husband Geordie and I took over, there was still only a skinny offering of gardens, but as we are both passionate gardeners, we wanted to change that. We had a wonderful team behind us and plenty of ideas, but we were also determined to get our hands in the soil.

What has been your approach at Highclere?

Lord and Lady Carnarvon in the garden at Highclere Castle - Hannah Gutteridge

When I first came here, I probably worried quite a lot about what other people thought, including my new ideas for gardens. You’ve only got to be reminded that Capability Brown designed the parkland here to fill you with a sense of doubt. But one day, Lady Jeannie, Geordie’s mother, turned to me and said: “Fiona, this is your home; create something which you think would be right for Highclere.” That gave me the confidence I needed. Of course, there is so much history: people have lived here for 1,200 years – the Bishops of Winchester owned it for 800. One of the oldest known gardens we have is called the Monks’ Garden and it dates back to the 12th century, when monks cultivated it for fresh produce and herbal remedies. So, this has partly inspired my healing herb garden beside the courtyard. It not only allowed me to explore an area of plants I’m passionate about, but was also a perfect way of connecting to the castle’s fascinating past.

Which projects has your husband enjoyed the most?

The wildflower meadow of Highclere Castle - John Lawrence

Fifteen years ago, Geordie decided to turn an area of the grounds around the back of the castle into a wildflower meadow. He entered into it with tremendous gusto and his hard work has paid off. Come late spring, the meadows are a sight to behold. It has also given us wonderful surprises, including some of Britain’s rarest orchids which suddenly started popping up to say hello. We keep a mowed lawn running through it, so it’s the most wonderful walk in the morning with the dogs – we have eight labradors. Geordie’s also passionate about the spring bulbs. Some 300,000 have been planted in the grounds – snowdrops, crocuses, narcissi, wild tulips, camassias, fritillarias, alliums – and he extends that area every year. In fact, we have a wonderful bulb specialist called Michael Lubbe who comes over from Holland in the autumn and in two hours plants 5,000 “time-lapse” bulbs with his machine. I always laugh because when it’s time to get out the spring catalogues, I put in a request for a few things, only to find he’s already used up the entire bulb budget on his own selections.

What are the themes that have inspired some of your other gardens?

The gardens were designed by Capability Brown, one of the most important English landscape gardeners of the 18th century - John Lawrence

A garden is a wonderful place to remember and celebrate the people we love, so Geordie and I have both dedicated gardens to our mothers. Geordie’s mother, Lady Jeanie, died in 2019 and the area we chose for her sits on a soft slope looking westward – towards Wyoming, the place where she was born. She loved pastel blues and adored every shade of white, so there are creamy lupins, Rosa rugosa and philadelphus, which has a scent that is absolutely divine. Towering Jerusalem artichokes add a touch of silver with their large, elegant leaves. To one side of it is a temple and after a few hours of planting or weeding, we’ll often sit there with the dogs and watch the sun going down. A short walk away is a rose arbour in memory of my mother, Frances. As she loved literature, I’ve filled it with roses named after her favourite characters, including the deep pink Gabriel Oak rose and a bright crimson Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Like my father, my mother died of cancer very young. It has taken time to create these gardens, and they mean a lot to us, but like time itself, gardening can be a very healing process.

Did you have a garden as a child?

I was the eldest of six girls and we grew up in central London. We lived in a flat, which meant we didn’t have a garden, but we had a balcony where our mother used to keep plants. At the weekend, however, our parents had to get us out, so we’d often be marched around St James’s Park to use up our energy and improve our moods. My father, who worked in the City, loved golf, and would often drop us at Wisley Park while he went off to play. Once the big holidays came, we were very fortunate to have a seaside home in Cornwall, but some of my fondest memories are of staying at a large farmhouse in Kent which was owned by good friends of our parents. It was such a wonderful Darling Buds of May experience, with a duck pond in the middle of a croquet lawn, and everything from chickens to ponies keeping us occupied. My sister Lucy and I would often go off on the ponies with our Ordnance Survey map. Even now, I can hear my mother saying: “Don’t be back late, darling. It’s treacle tart for lunch and Queenie’s making it especially for you.” When it was time to go back to London, we always wanted to bring the ponies with us.

Did that outdoor experience stay with you as you got older?

Thankfully, we’re now learning how beneficial it is to spend time in nature… to spend time in the garden. By the time I was a chartered accountant in my 20s, I craved the outdoors and would often volunteer to help people do their gardens at the weekend. It was such a relief from sitting at a desk all week. I’m a great believer in how being outside improves your mood and general well-being. And, of course, I still love ponies; in fact, I now have Pheobe, my Arab pony, whom I often take for walks around the gardens. On occasion, I’ll even bring her into the house, too! She’s such a sweetie and loves having a little look around but is always very respectful of floors and furnishings. Sometimes, I think you just get to a point in life when you want to go back in time and revisit all your fond memories. Even when I think back to my mother’s balcony garden, it’s a reminder that gardening comes in all shapes and sizes. I’ve recently found a new love of container planting; our new head gardener Emmeline has been helping me fill some big containers in the middle of the courtyard with small cherry trees and summer plants. I can’t tell you the pleasure I get from that. I’m going to experiment with barrels next, and then I’ll think about a few balconies. The castle manager John Gundill has renamed it Tut’s Plaza.

Do you think gardening helps you on a deeper level?

Over the years, Geordie and I have created many winding paths to take you from one garden to the next, and I’ve come to realise there’s something very therapeutic, very symbolic, about walking on a winding path. It’s a bit like life itself. As one gets older, you begin to appreciate that you don’t always know where life’s going to lead you or who you’re going to meet along the way. Working on these gardens has certainly taken me on a wonderful journey in life and I hope it continues.

A Year at Highclere: Secrets and Stories from the real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon is available for pre-order: highclerecastle.co.uk

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