Its setting is riding high in its 50th anniversary year. In 1976 Michael Heseltine, then MP for Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, (now the Rt Hon the Lord Heseltine CH) and his wife Anne acquired Thenford House near Banbury, a fine Georgian home with 400 acres of land. Living nearby, I had known its grounds for more than 20 years and had watched the lakes become silted and the brick walled garden become a haven for lambs, not flowers. Its previous owner had also been a Tory MP but lacked Heseltine’s eternal dynamism. With Anne he began to make a garden, enlarging it year by year and acquiring ever more confidence as they did so. It has become a mature marvel, a testament to planting magnolias, acers and rare trees and then staying put.