On another day, when my brother and his entourage had joined us at the bijou retreat for a night, we went to visit the more immediately located estate of the earls of Home, (pronounced Hume), The Hirsel. Whilst the house is not open to the public, the gardens are, and as my brother's lifelong work and passion has been the restoration of the gardens at the schloss in Perthshire, it seemed an obvious place to visit.
The Hirsel was the home of the 14th Earl of Home, who renounced this title to enable him to run the premiership from the Commons, when he took up the post of prime minister in 1963, succeeding Harold Macmillan. During that time he used his knighthood, (of the Thistle) and was known as Sir Alec Douglas-Home. It turns out there is a family connection by marriage, of which I was vaguely aware.
This picture of The Hirsel shows the exquisite use of the ha-ha, to keep the rather delightful Highland Cattle from wandering up to the front door.
The garden boasts some mighty oaks
and a scene redolent of Van Gogh
No comments:
Post a Comment