Freddie’s Flowers, £25 per week, take a lot of arranging. It’s hard work but I’m retired and neither Bertie or Robert are interested in floristry.
To a large extent this is a tribute to my paternal (Jameson) grandmother. Genetically Jamesons were so indolent as to make Bellews seem dynamic. My grandmother was an exception. She created and maintained a large garden and there were always flower arrangements in the Blue Room (yellow when I was last at Barmeath), the hall and the dining room. If the drawing room was to be used she put flowers there too and always in my bedroom when I came back from boarding school. She used a combination of wire mesh and Oasis to hold the stems in place and aimed for a pleasing naturalness in her arrangements. My sister has inherited this ability although she often ruefully says her arrangements look like something in a hotel – not true.
It might be prudent to mention the genetic indolence of Jamesons and Bellews has now been drastically diluted by marrying energetic wives, of which my mother was one.