”En route to a charming Wiltshire farmstead Stella and her then boyfriend discovered a house of solid if unromantic aspect fashioned for landed gentry during the endless reign of Mad King George (although an earlier wing dates to 1629). Later Victorian incumbents had planted some funereal fir trees, and into the twentieth century the vegetable garden was still so abundant that local villagers told Stella they remembered market stands set up at the gates for the surplus. Beyond this there had been little attempt at beautification inside or out, and latterly the fearsome major had retrenched to one room in the house, bricking up the kitchen’s vast inglenook fireplace and renting out bedsits upstairs. But despite the house’s desolate air, Stella was drawn to its handsome Georgian proportions and to the infinite possibilities of the land around it. And she and Alasdhair realized that it had the potential to be “a peaceful family home: It was very powerful.”“We planted a million trees here,” she adds. “We’ve made another Eden.” The couple, who were married in 2003, were helped in this mission by their wedding guests, who were bidden to give trees in lieu of more conventional presents. From these they created a heart-shaped copse. Gwyneth Paltrow gave copper beeches. American relatives gave redwoods. Valentino and Tom Ford each grandly sent allées of linden trees from Germany. This arboretum has since been much embellished, guided by head gardener Anthony Tyler (who had previously worked on the estates of Lords Weinstock and Lichfield).”