Fortified planting

THREE miles south of Ripon, a footpath leads from the medieval ruins of Fountains Abbey across undulating wooded parkland to Markenfield Hall, an impossibly lovely 13th- and early-14th-century fortified manor house, entirely surrounded by its moat. Despite its fairy-tale exterior, Markenfield is, in fact, a home—to Ian Curteis and his wife, Lady Deirdre. Walkers gaze over the moat, softly edged with long grass dancing with ox-eye daisies and field geraniums, and occasionally catch the couple lunching against a backdrop of pale roses and self-seeding opium poppies. ‘Sometimes they call out “what’s for pudding?”’ Mr Curteis tells me cheerfully, confirming the spirit of welcome that pervades this gentle house, which happily opens