A day at Chenies Manor and Gardens , Buckinghamshire

Just over two weeks ago I was on my way to Chenies Manor, a former Tudor Palace in Buckinghamshire. The click-clack, click clack of the windscreen wipers kept up a constant rhythm as the rain fell on a crowded motorway, miles of roadworks and rather cross looking drivers.

As I entered Chenies Manor though, it was as if I was entering a parallel universe. The sun was shining on a house and garden of timeless beauty. I felt like Tom in one of my favourite children’s books, “Tom's Midnight Garden” by Philippa Pearce. Where, set in the 1950s,at the stroke of midnight Tom opens the door of the flat in an old house where he's staying stays and miraculously finds himself in a beautiful garden at the turn of the 20th century. Since then, I've found out that this very garden featured as the garden in the film of the book back in 1999!

What an entrance to Tudor times,

and such ornate brickwork and chimneys

Meanwhile, I was walking through five acres and five centuries of garden history. The sunken garden here is a jewel which draws your eyes immediately and as walked down the right-hand side path, I came across this beautiful statue 

 I sat down on the step to admire its perfect form backed by trees, bushes and arches in vivid shades of green and pretty pink pops of dahlias.

At the other end of the sunken garden, there’s a different view of her with the stunning backdrop of the house itself, which stands imposingly as befits the former seat of The Earls of Bedford,

Let’s talk about the gardens though. 

There are over 2,000 dahlias on show at Chenies Manor and all of them are dug up every autumn before the first real frosts, stored in November, and propagated, then planted out the following spring. Labour intensive yes, but when you see the planting and positioning of the dahlias such as Rebecca’s World, Ambition, Sandra, Labyrinth and Red Labyrinth and cafe au lait rose, it is so well worth it!

The result is stunning, yet with friendly informality.

I had to linger on this pathway, to savour the rather wistful and romantic feel before making my way to the Physic Garden.

Apart from the kitchen garden, this would have been one of the most important parts of the garden in Tudor times. Plants were there to heal, to soothe, herbs to flavour food, and to add scent indoors. These would have all been a necessity in any self-respecting still room, but there's also more sinister plants...plants to poison and perhaps to kill. 

This physic garden hasn't been here since Tudor times though. It was designed back in the 1970s by Elizabeth Macleod Matthews who along with her husband Charles had bought and restored the Manor twenty years earlier and Dennis Tweddell. The original would still have been within the walled garden though.

The more formal topiary and this beautiful, intricate gazebo draw your eye back towards the house and the historic Queen Elizabeth Oak, which Elizabeth  I had reputedly climbed .She was obviously less accident-prone than me- as it was,I  wouldn't have got out of the maze for hours if it hadn't been for other Garden Media Guild members in the maze at the same time.

I did manage to make my way over to the kitchen garden and orchard which lie behind the labyrinth.

There's a very relaxed feel here, espalier pears lining the potager were still bursting with ripe fruit, some were attracting some lazy wasps, and the best of the produce had been harvested.

Asters provided a welcome burst of colour, 

and I couldn't resist a sneaky peek inside the potting shed. There was no one from the house was around in the kitchen garden.or in here....it felt like a gardening equivalent to The Marie Celeste, as if everyone had just decamped.

I admired the old pump standing in the afternoon sun

before making my way to the St Michael's church which stands so close to the Manor House..

 As in the garden, the echoes of the past were all around me and it was near here that I listened to a very interesting talk about the house and those who lived here. My imagination was caught with tales of Anne Sapcote, the heiress who married three times in the tudor period. She became the Countess of Bedford after she married her third husband Sir John Russell. They built Chenies up to be an equal to Hampton Court, but then moved to a new family seat at Woburn Abbey.

By now I was itching to get into the historic house itself, to see where the people I'd heard so much about had lived, and where the current owners Boo and Charles Macleod Matthews now live. Unfortunately, due to covid restrictions this wasn't possible. Hopefully next Spring the house will be open once again.

 I absolutely adored seeing this garden, which even in mid-October had so much to seduce the members of the Garden Media Guild on our visit here.

All too soon, it was time to leave Chenies Manor, to walk out this magical place, get the car and drive back reluctantly to reality and the modern world. As I did so, I made plans to return next spring, The chance of seeing the house being open and with over 10,000 tulips in the garden is a temptation that I will be powerless to resist.

There's still time to visit Chenies Manor before it closes for the winter. It is open for the new two Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in October.Make sure you leave time to stop for tea, coffee and cakes...they are very good.

 For further details go to www.cheniesmanorhouse.co.uk