From The Crown to Capability Brown – history of Belvoir Castle Gardens revealed in new book
Life in a castle isn’t always a fairytale, as the Duchess of Rutland vividly illustrates in her fascinating, revealing and funny book, part memoir, part garden history of Belvoir Castle and the Duchesses who came before her.
When Emma Watkins, the pony-mad daughter of a Welsh farmer, imagined her future it was as the wife of a younger version of her father. But then she fell in love with David Manners, having no idea that he was heir to one of the most senior hereditary titles in the land. When David succeeded his father, against all the odds Emma became the chatelaine of Belvoir Castle, ancestral home of the Dukes of Rutland.
From The Crown to Capability Brown – history of Belvoir Castle Gardens revealed in new book
The book shares insights from life in the Castle, and charts how Emma, was responsible for transforming the castle’s fortunes in the modern era. She had to cope with five boisterous children while faced with a vast estate in desperate need of modernisation and staff who wanted nothing to. Yet with sound advice from the doyenne of duchesses, ‘Debo’ Devonshire, she met each challenge with optimism and gusto, including scaling the castle roof in a storm to unclog a flooding gutter; reinstating the plans by Britain’s most famous landscape designer Capability Brown, launching a new flower and garden show at Belvoir, and disguising herself as a cleaner to watch filming of The Crown. She even took on the castle ghosts . . .
Vividly written and bursting with insights, The Accidental Duchess will appeal to everyone who loves to visit the gardens of stately homes and wondered about its history and what it would be like to live there.
The Accidental Duchess will be available in Hardback (£12.99 rrp) from 15th September 2022, published by Pan Macmillan
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