I did something VERY un-British!
...I think I embarrassed the children!
Dear lovely friends!
What a fortnight it has been…and what a fortnight is ahead. I’ve finished a year of ‘Gardening through the Seasons’, I’m off to one of my favourite gardens in the country with my boiler suit packed, I’ve wandered Chelsea with champagne in hand, belted out my favourite song under a circus tent, and I’ve signed something I’m longing to tell you about. Pull up a chair; there’s A LOT in this issue.
In this newsletter, I’ll be sharing:
· A second book (shh, it’s a secret!)
· A year of learning in the garden
· An apprenticeship of a lifetime
· The Chelsea Flower Show
· The Greatest Showman!
· My biggest-ever restoration project (the first to know is you)
· Another marathon?!
Let’s dive in!
A Second Book (very much a secret)
I can hardly believe I’m writing this, but the pre-order sales for Secrets of an English Country House: A Year at Mapperton have been so wonderfully strong that last week I signed for my second book.
I can’t say a word more than that just yet—hint, hint—but it would NOT be happening without you.
Every pre-order genuinely matters, and they have mattered hugely. So if you’ve been meaning to order, now really is the moment.
My Year of Gardening
I’ve just finished my Gardening Through the Seasons course, run by Troy Scott Smith, the head gardener at Sissinghurst.
I’ve learned so much over the past year, and I’m endlessly grateful for the chance to learn from someone like Troy.
Now comes the best part: putting it all into practice in Mapperton’s Italianate formal gardens.
Stay tuned! There will be plenty to show you.
An Apprenticeship of a Lifetime at Newby Hall
As I write this, I’m about to leave for Newby Hall and Gardens—in my view, one of the top ten gardens in the country.
Lucinda Compton, who is custodian there alongside her husband Richard, has very kindly invited me up for what is, in essence, an apprenticeship.
I’ll be in my boiler suit from the early hours…and remember, in British summertime the sun rises just before 5am and doesn’t set until around 9:30pm! So there will be plenty of gardening hours.
A half day Monday, all day Tuesday and Wednesday, and then something rather special on the Thursday, working alongside Lucinda and the head gardener, Lawrence.
But I’ll save that Thursday surprise for the next newsletter…
Two Days at the Chelsea Flower Show
Straight after my gardening course, I drove back up to London for the Chelsea Flower Show preview party, where you beat the crowds and see as many gardens as you can while sipping champagne and nibbling canapés.
I got to see the King’s Foundation garden with no queues at all, and it was stunning: perennials and annuals cleverly woven through vegetables.
The next day I went back with my partner in crime, the interior designer extraordinaire Malcolm Winyard. It was a perfect day of sun and cloud!
We queued forty minutes this time for the King’s Foundation garden. It was worth it - even the second time around! We arrived at 11:30am and stayed until it closed at 8pm!
Chelsea has grown so wonderfully that it’s now full of brilliant British-made stallholders too. My favourite stall was Country Life, built like a library—so cool. I also treated myself to a pair of Japanese secateurs and fell for Elizabeth Scarlett’s travel bags!
The Greatest Showman…and a very un-British moment
Then it was back up to London, because Emma and Jack had bought me birthday tickets to Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular at Earl’s Court.
They know I’m completely obsessed with that soundtrack!
We had wonderful pub food beforehand, then stepped into a huge tent of acrobats and every tune I love. I’d been waiting all night for “This Is Me,” my favourite, and when it finally came—second to last—the American in me simply stood up and belted it out from the back row!
Very interactive, very fun, and gloriously un-British of me. The Hugh Jackman of the night kept pointing my way: get up like this lady, get up, get up! What a night!
My biggest-ever restoration project—and you’ll be the first to know
I couldn’t get enough of Malcolm, so Malcolm, Rory Hutton and I are now collaborating on the most exciting thing I’ve taken on at Mapperton. Rory is a super talented textile designer who has worked with the King at Highgrove, the V&A’s Collection, the British Museum—the list goes on and on.
This is my biggest restoration project in the house, and there won’t be another like it. Malcolm is leading the design, and Rory is creating something unbelievably special. We had the loveliest evening at Mapperton—drinks and canapés outside in the warmth, then a fish dinner of sea bass that Luke had caught the day before, before getting to work on drawings and measurements.
We’ll be announcing this collaboration in the next couple of weeks—and you, lovely friends, will be the very first to hear.
I’m Marathon Training Again!
Training for the Amsterdam marathon is properly underway, and weight training has become my non-negotiable. I aim for strength work three times a week, plus of course my two-hour yoga class.
I clocked my second-fastest 10k recently, which I was thrilled with, and rounded off the week with a 16k run.
The momentum is very much there! And I’m excited to see how I’ll do in a marathon when I’ve actually trained for it!
All About the Dogs
I’ve just published a piece over at my Gilded Heiresses substack that I think you’ll really love: it’s all about dogs!
They are such a part of life here, and it was a joy to write.
Thank you, as ever, for being here. Every pre-order, every kind note, every click really does move the needle…and it lets me keep sharing all of this with you. I feel very lucky indeed.
With love and gratitude,
Julie