On an autumn morning in West Sussex, the outline of Parham House and its distinctive clocktower emerge from the mist against a backdrop of the South Downs just as they have for almost 500 years. Bricks and mortar can survive largely unchanged for centuries, but gardens are reinvented over and over again by the people who tend them – or they can disappear altogether, abandoned and reclaimed by nature.
Parham has enjoyed remarkable continuity: just three families have owned it since its foundation stone was laid in 1577. By the time Clive and Alicia Pearson bought the estate in 1922 the house was in a state of extreme disrepair, crying out for the money and enthusiasm the couple were able to pour into it. Parham is now owned by a
