Generation GAME
Carol Gould comes from a green-fingered family, and it shows throughout the charming country garden that surrounds her 400-year-old thatched cottage. ‘I come from generations of gardeners – my aunt was a botanist. When Kate was small, she helped me with the weeding, and we had an allotment nearby,’ says Carol, a passionate gardener herself. This garden is the brainchild of two generations – mother and daughter Kate, an eminent garden designer who won three medals for her Chelsea 2022 show garden. ‘A deep love of plants developed throughout my childhood, so it seemed only natural to make a career in gardening,’ she says.
The outcome is spectacular, a far cry from the picture that greeted Carol in 2016 when she moved from north-west London to rural Buckinghamshire, drawn to a thatched cottage that dates back to the 1640s.
‘When I first walked up the little lane and saw the cottage, its situation was irresistible, with views over the village duck pond from all the main rooms,’ she recalls. However, the main garden in front of the cottage was neglected, and the first step was
