Behind The Scenes
Secrets From Blenheim Palace
The great landscape architect Capability Brown created stunning gardens in many of Britain’s most imposing stately homes. Perhaps his grandest creation is the 2,000 acres of sweeping, majestic parkland at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Marlborough. Developed over the centuries by some of the world’s leading designers, Blenheim’s formal gardens surround the Palace, and include a tranquil Secret Garden packed with hidden treasures, a new Churchill Memorial Garden and a
Rose Garden.
These are all appreciated by the 750,000 visitors to Blenheim every year, and the daunting task of looking after them falls to Head Gardener Hilary Wood. Hilary started work at Blenheim in 1981, working as a ‘kind of understudy’, as she puts it, to her husband who was in charge of the gardens, and taking over in 2010. But, as she explains, even that long spell isn’t a record in her team. ‘On my staff, one has been here 55 years, another one 47. It’s more of a vocation than a job.’
That vocation requires real passion for gardening, and Hilary’s was sparked by her mother. ‘She grew her own vegetables and she just made it so much fun.’
Keeping such famous and popular gardens in pristine condition is hard work. Hilary, who lives at Blenheim, arrives at her office by 7am and sets off on foot around the gardens a couple of times a day. She has just nine full-time and six part-time staff working for her, and there are times when it’s all hands to the pump.
‘Sometimes we’re under a little bit of time restraint, when the Palace opens at 10 o’clock in the morning, so I get the gang together and we just go up and blitz the job.’
Capability Brown could never have imagined that Blenheim would be visited by quite so many people, and Hilary admits that the sheer numbers, as well as the functions that Blenheim holds, can cause ‘wear and tear’.
‘We’ve got a three-acre south
lawn. We hold events, big weddings and everything on there, with huge marquees, and you think, “Oh my goodness”, but it’s something we cope with.
But it’s not just maintenance. Capability Brown’s nickname came from his common phrase ‘This garden has capabilities to improve,’ and you can sense Hilary’s pride when she talks about adding to Blenheim’s gardens and leaving a legacy for the future.
‘We’re always trying to evolve and it’s nice for me and my team to create something new that we hope will still be there in 100 years’ time.
‘In 2004, we created the Secret Garden – it’s a beautiful little site on its own. We’ve got lots of formal gardens and we wanted to make it more informal, so people could relate to it. We have streams, waterways and it’s been planted for all four seasons. Everything is labelled, and people can take away ideas to use in their own gardens.’
One adversary that Capability Brown would have been familiar with – just like today’s gardeners – is the English weather, although as Hilary explains, that is changing.
‘Sometimes the weather can be against us and we cope with it. But when we first came here we had severely harsh weather. We had months of snow and hard frosts. We don’t get that any more, so the bugs and insects are surviving through the year. We obviously try not to use chemicals, so that’s quite a hard one to cope with.’
And just as every amateur gardener has a favourite among their plants, when I ask Hilary for hers, she doesn’t hesitate – the roses in the Rose Garden.
‘I think it’s such a typically English flower. It’s very obviously seasonal and the varieties and the scents that you get when you go into the Rose Garden are glorious.’
She’s equally emphatic about her favourite part of the gardens. ‘Lakeside Walk. You don’t have to go any further. It’s a pathway we created where you can walk along Capability Brown’s lake, and you think, “What a genius!”.
‘I think of the history that those trees could tell’
It’s just the views over the lake, it’s such a peaceful walk.’
Though Hilary has been at Blenheim for over 30 years, she still sounds as awestruck as a first-time visitor when she talks about working and living at Blenheim.
‘You look across the Great Lake and it transports you back to the time of horses and carriages, of the ladies who would have walked around the gardens and the park in their finery. I think of the history that those trees could tell.
‘Even now, I come through the gates of the Palace and it just brightens me up. You look at that view and you think, “Wow, how lucky am I?”’