One of the great privileges of being the current custodians of Knebworth House is walking our dog every evening in its beautiful gardens. In the twenty-four years Martha and I have done this we have particularly enjoyed watching the gardens evolve, not only through the seasons, but through the decades, little bits of progress, one step back, two steps forward…
Losing treasured trees to old age or disease is the most painful part of loving this garden, so I have especially valued the wood carvings that we have commissioned to give lost trees something of an afterlife. When we started doing this back in 2003, the artist we worked with was Stevenage-resident Dennis Heath. Two decades later Dennis’s very fine – always fun and fantastical, idiosyncratic and imaginative – chainsaw carvings are to be found all over Knebworth House gardens.
We have recently received the sad news of Dennis’s death. He is in my thoughts every evening as I admire his sculptures. What a unique talent he had. Farewell Dennis – hoc virtutis opus famam extendere factis (as the Lytton motto goes) – you live on in your beautiful work.
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH
