Castle Drogo

The thirties had seen the completion of Castle Drogo* and in 1940, Philip was appointed head gardener. He remained there until his death at the age of 80 in 1965. Now a National Trust property, the layout of the gardens was much the same as it is today. The rose beds were his love and he would be pleased to know that they are still lovingly cared for. However he used to complain bitterly that Mr. Drewe would not spend money on suitable fertilizer and so the collection of horse dung was a regular pastime.

Much of his time was taken up in trimming the great yew hedges which surround the garden and property. All of these were done with a standard pair of hand shears. Each corner was a meticulous right-angle, unlike the machine-trimmed hedges of today.

Philip Stentiford's pride and joy from 1940 to 1965 - The gardens at Castle Drogo

Sundays were always a special day and Philip would don his best suit and hobnail boots and walk the mile to Drewsteignton to worship, taking with him one of his collection of walking sticks that he had cut from a hedgerow briar.

Life in the tied cottage at Wisedom** was tough and his home was shared with his daughter, Grace. The cottage, although beautiful and picturesque, had no mains water or electricity. Each evening, Philip ran the diesel pump in an outbuilding that pumped spring water from the well up to the house. In summer, water was always scarce and had to be treated as a valuable commodity. Light was provided by oil lamps and the ranges in the main room and kitchen were fired by logs and branches brought back daily from the Drewe estate. Each evening, he would invariably walk back to the castle grounds to tend the greenhouse, where his tomatoes and strawberries were legendary.

Philip could grow anything. The rhododendrons in the castle grounds are attributed in the National Trust guide books to Basil Drewe. However, these were the work of Philip and are still enjoyed by so many visitors today. Seeds from a kiwi fruit bought in Exeter, a rare luxury in the 1950s, grew to produce dozens of the fruit every year.

Life finally came to an end on 28 Mar 1965. Philip had worked to within 6 months of his death. His coffin rested in the chapel at Castle Drogo for the days before his burial. He was survived by all of his daughters and two grandchildren.

He lies at rest in a plot provided by the Drewe family, near to their tomb in the Drewsteignton churchyard. His wife Elizabeth's parents - John and Harriet Lasky - are at rest nearby.

The graveyard of Holy Trinity Church, Drewsteignton

*Castle Drogo is a mock granite castle built in the 20th century just outside the village of Drewsteignton. It was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens for Julius Drewe who founded a grocery chain called "The Home and Colonial Stores". It gets its name from Julius Drewe's belief that he was descended from a Norman Baron called Drogo and the site seems to have been arbitrarily selected because the Parish of Drewsteignton was once known as "Drogo de Teigne".

** By an odd coincidence this tied cottage has more than one connection with the Stentiford family. The Drewsteignton Parish Register notes the name of the cottage beside the baptismal entries of two of the children of George Stentiford (see Issue 6) and his wife Jane Browning. William (born at Wisdom) was baptised on 14 Aug 1859 and his brother John, also "born at Wisdom" was baptised on 25 Dec 1862. Two further children - George (whose son, Frederick was commemorated in Issue 3) and James were also born in the same village but there is no note as to where. Certainly this Stentiford family also lived in the cottage for a number of years.

Return to Issue 7