10 minute read
The Royal Gardener: Interview with Graham Dillamore
Having looked after royal gardens for over 40 years, Graham Dillamore is now responsible for some of the most magnificent palace gardens in the country. Here, he shows Dream Escape around the world-famous gardens at Hampton Court Palace, where he is head gardener, and reveals his plans for the stunning tulip festival taking place there this spring.
Dramatically positioned on the banks of the River Thames, around 12 miles upstream of central London, Hampton Court Palace is one of the most significant and spectacular historical buildings in the world. Its famed red-brick façade, towering gatehouse and decorative chimneys are a staggeringly beautifully sight, and crossing its imposing threshold is like taking a step back in time.
First established by Cardinal Wolsey in the early 16th century, this remarkably well-preserved palace is renowned for being the home of Henry VIII, his famous wives, and the colourful world of the Tudor court. Today, visitors can wander through the notorious king’s Great Hall and admire his magnificent tapestries, while the sprawling palace kitchens will instantly transport you back to the heyday of lavish Tudor feasts. Elsewhere, the Grand Staircase leads up to William III's splendid State Apartments, and beyond the palace walls a further time warp awaits...
The Pond Gardens at Hampton Court Palace
IMAGE © HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES / JAMES LINSELL-CLARK
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Last page, left to right: The Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court Palace; The Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace
Hampton Court Palace’s worldfamous gardens encompass a staggering 60 acres of spectacular formal gardens and 750 acres of parkland. They are home to the world's oldest puzzle maze, a record-breaking grape vine, a historic kitchen garden, three National Plant Collections and a huge variety of wildlife, including descendants of Henry VIII’s deer herd, but more than anything else, they are teeming with history.
The responsibility for maintaining all this comes down to one very safe pair of green-fingered hands: those of head gardener, Graham Dillamore.
Over the course of his career, Graham has overseen many a regal patch. Back in 1980, when he was just 16 years old, he began working as an apprentice in London’s Royal Parks. In 1985, he became head gardener at Kensington Palace before going to work for The Royal Household, where he took on the significant responsibility of tending to the then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s private garden for over five years. Eager for a bigger plot, he made the move to Hampton Court Palace in 1990, where today his role involves coordinating and overseeing everything that goes on in the gardens not only on a day-to-day basis, but also week-to-week, month-to-month, and year-to-year.
“I really like gardens with history and heritage. Working in a garden that has been there for hundreds of years and following in the footsteps of other gardeners has always been very appealing to me,” Graham explains to Dream Escape when we meet.
“I’ve never been the kind of gardener who wants to change everything, instead I’ve always been interested in conservation and preserving what we already have, as well as going back in time to understand what went on before.”
Privy Garden Fountain
IMAGE © HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES / JAMES LINSELL-CLARK
The gardens at Hampton Court contain many remarkable highlights, such as William III and Mary II’s Great Fountain Garden on the East Front, complete with 13 beautiful fountains and its signature mushroom-shaped yew trees. There’s also the elegant Long Water – a beautiful stretch of water completed in 1660 by King Charles II as a wedding present for his bride-to-be, Catherine of Braganza, but Graham’s very first project was to restore one of the most significant parts of the garden back to its former baroque glory. Using archaeology reports and historical gardening records, Graham and his team spent two years meticulously recreating William III's Privy Garden –the King’s magnificent private garden –to exactly as it was in 1702.
“One of the things we always try to do at Hampton Court is connect the garden with the palace itself. Our philosophy is that gardens and palaces should be as one,” Graham explains, as we stroll through the Privy Gardens.
“So here, we’ve used authentic plant varieties, spacing, statues – even the topiary heights and shapes are accurate. You can stand here and see it exactly as it was in 1702. It’s a bit like a time capsule,” he explains.
“It is without doubt the greatest recreated baroque garden in the UK, and I am incredibly proud of it. It is a real jewel in our crown.”
Another of the garden’s many jewels is the Great Vine, which is a staggering 255 years old and the largest in the world. In the summer, its grapes are sold in the palace giftshop, giving visitors the rare opportunity to try its historic fruit, which was once a favourite of Queen Victoria, no less.
“The grapes are a very old variety called Black Hamburg, they are a really tasty dessert grape. Just imagine eating fruit from a plant that was planted in 1768. And what a taste!” he beams.
Next, we visit the beautiful Pond Gardens, which in Henry VIII’s time were just as they are – vast ponds, filled with carp and bream for the table. In the 1690s, Mary II transformed them into sunken gardens so that she could display her exotic plant collection, and although their purpose may have changed over time, their essence remains the same.
“The gardens here may have developed over the years, but each time a gardener or architect came to change things, they always had respect for what had gone before. So now, the gardens very much respect the history of the place and pay tribute to all the previous gardeners that have worked here,” Graham explains.
“That’s what makes Hampton Court so special. Henry VIII could have been standing right here with his hands on this very wall, so one minute you’re touching something from the 1530s, and the next something from 1690. It’s like walking through all these different periods of time, and my mission in life is to preserve all that.”
One of Graham’s other significant responsibilities is the garden at London’s Kensington Palace, which is also looked after by Historic Royal Palaces. The birthplace of Queen Victoria and home to young royals for over 300 years, today it is a popular visitor destination and the official London residence of TRH The Prince and Princess of Wales. It is also where Graham recently oversaw the transformation of The Sunken Garden, which Diana, Princess of Wales was particularly fond of. To mark the 20th anniversary of her death in 2017, Graham and his team transformed the space into The White Garden in her memory.
The Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court Palace
IMAGE © HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES / JAMES LINSELL-CLARK
Hampton Court Palace
IMAGE © HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES / JAMES LINSELL-CLARK
“That project was a real highlight for me. It’s not big, it’s not grand, it’s just really lovely, and it’s something that’s going to be there forever,” he explains.
“To be a part of that, and to be there at the moment when the princes unveiled her statue, gosh that was very special, and very emotional.”
Back at Hampton Court, Graham has plans to resurrect another period from its horticultural history. Towards the end of 17th century, William III and Mary II began importing tulip bulbs from the Netherlands, and by the time Queen Victoria opened the gardens to the public in the 1820s, people would come from miles around to see the palace’s splendid tulip displays.
“It became a real destination for a day out, and we want to celebrate that again,” Graham explains.
Last winter, the gardening team worked tirelessly to plant a whopping 110,000 tulip bulbs throughout the gardens, including some rare and historic varieties, and in April this year Hampton Court Palace is hosting a truly glorious tulip festival.
“We’ve planted the bulbs in flowerbeds all around the gardens, and each area has a different theme and story as to why we’ve chosen that bulb and that colour scheme,” Graham explains.
“We’ve got traditional mass planting and I am also bringing more tulips into the courtyards as well, much to the housekeeper’s disdain. I’ve been planting bulbs in all sorts of things – wheelbarrows, pots, troughs. We want to offer visitors something a bit different.”
The Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace
IMAGE © HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES / JAMES LINSELL-CLARK
Speaking of which, as part of the event Graham will be giving the palace’s famous 14ft wine fountain a fabulous floral makeover.
“We’re going to cover it in tulips, and we’ve gone for deep red wine colours – maroons and burgundies, even jet black. We’ve also got a tulip variety called Merlot, and a few rosé colours too.”
Next, Graham leads us through the palace nursery, past greenhouses and dozens of containers filled with eager bulbs, all covered in netting to provide protection from squirrels, and the palace cat...
“We’ve always had cats here and they’re always called Henry. I think we’re on Henry number 9 or 10,” he smiles.
Over the years, Hampton Court has also seen a succession of notable palace gardeners too, including none other than Lancelot 'Capability' Brown.
Now, it is Graham and the current garden team’s turn to take their place in history as part of this significant gardening dynasty.
“That thought makes me feel quite small really – I am just here in this little moment of time. I just don’t want to get anything wrong!” he laughs.
After the tulips have been and gone, there is a whole host of events planned at Hampton Court Palace this summer, ranging from flower festivals and jousting tournaments to classic-car shows, music concerts and more. And all the while, Graham is constantly planting, pruning and planning in order to make sure that the gardens look their very best now, and in the future, while always remaining considerate of both Mother Nature, and what has come before.
“You can see when a garden is at peace with itself and when it’s relaxed –it has that atmosphere and look about it,” Graham explains.
“I like to work in partnership with the landscape here. I never chase it or force it, and I’ll never try and artificially improve the gardens for a certain moment or style. It is a real, growing, evolving, developing garden, and each part of it has a wonderful story that goes on and moves forward, gently”.
WORDS | SOPHIE FARRAH
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Sally Strange, Client Relationship Manager
The Tulip Festival heralds the arrival of spring and a promise of summer just around the corner. Visiting the magnificent gardens of Hampton Court Palace is quite literally walking in the footsteps of famous kings, lovelorn queens, mourning monarchs and poorly princes. Oh, what conversations those age-old yew trees would have been privy to. To experience these gardens in their restored glory is truly breathtaking.”
⬥ sally@dreamescape.co.uk
