Space to roam

Perhaps I could call this 'Free range children' - because on a wet morning that's what was important about Benmore Gardens: the wide open expanse of safe green space in which my grandsons could run for miles and wear themselves out climbing the steep paths to the top of the gardens.

It's almost 40 years since we brought the boys' father here to learn to walk as a toddler. The formal garden has changed enormously since then and is now in a state of transition - but at least we didn't have to worry about losing one of them into an ornamental fountain.