Wednesday, September 04, 2019

Belvoir Castle, Bonkers Hall and garden bus tours

Thanks to a reader for drawing this report in Historic Houses to my attention:
Capability Brown’s spectacular ‘lost landscape’ design for Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire now features in a number of new garden bus tours designed and narrated by Emma, Duchess of Rutland.
I showed it to Lord Bonkers with the following result.

  Lord Bonkers writes exclusively for Liberal England:
I don't know about you, but I have always found the Duke of Rutland's seat Belvoir Castle rather flashy. Nevertheless, when the Duchess showed me around I was he soul of politeness and remarked "Nice Belvoir." 
The gardens at Bonkers Hall are also to be preferred; the local tradition is that they were laid out by Capability Brown's younger brother Incapacity. 
And we were into the garden tour racket long before the Rutlands. I well recall the first Lady Bonkers taking the wheel of a charabanc and chasing Meadowcroft around his favourite shrubbery. 
How the passengers cheered! 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

There is a Terry Pratchett character named Bloody Stupid Johnson in the same line of business as the Browns...

Jonathan Calder said...

There's nothing new under the sun - and I have used this joke before in Lord Bonkers.

I ought to like Terry Pratchett but have never got on with him.