Chenies Manor

Elizabeth Macleod Matthews, chatelaine of Chenies Manor died in April 2016. An amazingly stalwart and resourceful lady, for a period of over fifty years she painstakingly resurrected the gardens of Chenies with a lot of back aching work and great panache.  It is not my purpose on this occasion to discuss the present gardens; the thousandsContinue reading “Chenies Manor”

Yale University, Slavery and Capability Brown

I have resolutely avoided discussing that most famous of garden designers, Capability Brown. So many others far better qualified than me have written much. However, there is an interesting conundrum in which he figures. What connects Yale University, Latimer House, the churches of Flaunden, Latimer and Chenies, the slave trade and Capability Brown? In theContinue reading “Yale University, Slavery and Capability Brown”