Indigo and Amara help Luke with chopped firewood.
Andrew Montgomery
Luke’s adventures round regional auction rooms have also turned up ‘all sorts of columns and statues for the garden’, says Phoebe. ‘We were inspired by the garden of Iford Manor in Wiltshire, which I’ve painted.’ Similarly, they recently installed a ‘temple garden’ just beyond her studio, the idea for which came from gardens designed by Julian and Isabel Bannerman, including Highgrove.
Luke and Phoebe in their ‘temple garden’.
Andrew Montgomery
While much of the planning of the garden relates to achieving low-maintenance impact, the structures give a sense of the Arcadian sublime. This effect is increased by a stream that runs through the valley, which Indigo and Amara paddle in during summer, and by the clutch of Herdwick sheep and Hereford cows that together graze the slopes below the house. ‘We call them the flerd,’ says Luke. The couple have help with the farming. ‘We’re very lucky, because we’ve discovered that it is quite full-on,’ says Phoebe, who explains that there are nonetheless some times in the year when the whole family does get involved. ‘Lambing is undoubtedly a high point for the girls and something to look forward to after Christmas.’
Phoebe painting the garden at Stancombe Park in the Cotswolds.
Andrew Montgomery
Adrian and Lucretia regularly return to visit their old home. It turns out they bought the house from writer and art dealer Bruce Chatwin and, before that, the artist Nigel Newton lived in it. ‘It has always been a home to people in the arts,’ Phoebe says. Certainly, this story has kismet running through it beyond her childhood dream. ‘There are days when I can’t quite believe this is real,’ she says. ‘Living here has genuinely surpassed every expectation’.
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