The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
From fortress to flower arranging
Henry VIII’S Walmer Castle is back in bloom
WALMER CASTLE is not your average stately home. Built by Henry VIII in 1539-40 as a coastal defence against expected invasion from Spain, it was used as a fortress, rather than a home, until it became the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (the trade and military body established to protect the south-east coast) in 1708.
Over the next two centuries it gradually became less military and more domestic in character as subsequent tenants made alterations to the interiors and developed the gardens.
By the early 19th century, the castle had become so fashionable that the 1st Duke of Wellington specifically requested to be made Lord Warden so that he could live in it, and eventually died there in 1852. Other notable Lord Wardens since have included Viscount Palmerston, the newsagent W H Smith, Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother, who spent a weekend there
every summer between 1978 and her death in 2002.
Now run by English Heritage and open to the public daily from next weekend, the castle is inhabited by Sally Mewton-hynds, supervisor since 1995, who oversees the running of the house, from managing the finances to looking after the tea room. Another of her responsibilities is to decorate the
The collection includes the Duke of Wellington’s campaign bed and the chair where he died
castle with seasonal flowers brought in from the gardens, a tradition that started when the Queen Mother was Lord Warden and which Mewtonhynds has continued ever since, especially at Easter.
Floral arranging is not, it appears, a simple business in a historic house, where flowers are not normally permitted, due to the possibility that they
might introduce pests that could destroy the fragile carpets and tapestries. ‘Our main consideration is to preserve the collection,’ says Mewtonhynds, which includes the Duke of Wellington’s campaign bed, the chair in which he died and a mahogany desk used there by William Pitt the Younger.
Pests aside, this spring has brought its own issues: the eight acres of gardens, including a Victorian kitchen garden, wild-flower meadow and wood-
The Beast from the East hit hard. ‘Normally there would be rows and rows of tulips by now’
land walk, were under deep snow just a few weeks ago, when the Beast from the East hit Kent particularly hard. ‘Normally there would be rows and rows of tulips in the kitchen garden by now,’ says Mewton-hynds, ‘but this year they’re a little late.’
Still, there are plenty of flowers for her arrangements – daffodils, tulips and hyacinths, along with hardier plants such as forsythia, pussy willow, hazel, birch and dogwood. The heated
glasshouses in the garden come into their own at this time of year, and will be open as usual for Easter weekend, displaying more tulips, daffodils and indoor jasmine. The gardens are also the scene for the Easter Adventure Quest, which this year will see children hunting for one of six eggs designed by illustrators including Polly Dunbar and Lydia Monks, hidden
‘Some come three or four times a week. I’ve seen families grow up and bring children of their own’
at English Heritage properties around the country. ‘We might be a crown property, but we’re very much a part of the local community,’ says Mewtonhynds. ‘Some of our members come three or four times a week, and over the years I’ve seen families grow up and bring children of their own.’
Inside the house, Mewton-hynds, a trained florist, designs her displays according to each room: ‘You have to be sensitive to the period of the room and the contents,’ she says. She does, however, have ‘a bit more licence’ in the downstairs rooms, where visitors might spot a pair of pink Wellington boots holding sprigs of pussy willow, forsythia and pittosporum in the lobby, or a dramatic black vase in the fireplace filled with bright blooms.
‘Colour and texture is important from a florist’s point of view, but it mustn’t overtake the space,’ she adds. There is always a balance to be struck, however: ‘I want it to feel like a home, not like you’re walking into a museum.’