Out of Darkness
When Lionel de Rothschild described himself as a ‘banker by hobby – a gardener by profession’, he wasn’t entirely joking. From 1919 until his death in 1942, the MP, philanthropist and member of the banking dynasty transformed 200 acres of woodland at Exbury in the New Forest into an enchanting landscape of rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias and rare trees. He also bred 1,210 new rhododendron hybrids. Now in its centenary year, Exbury Gardens is internationally famed for its spectacular spring colour. But while it has one eye on the past, another is firmly on the future.
For Lionel’s great grand-daughter, Marie-Louise Agius, the gardens were a childhood playground – “I was like a kid in a sweet shop,” she recalls as
