How does Mary feel, I wonder, being considered an “icon” at age 91? She is mildly surprised by the notion. ‘Well, I must be doing something right,’ she jokes. ‘I don’t know much about this “fashion icon” (thing). People say “I knit scarves like you”.’
Mostly, she wants people to realize that color is a no-go after a certain age. ‘When you’re (old) – I mean I’m 91 – you don’t really need to be black and gray and boring.’
Mary and Jade, 39, also share a mutual love of gardening. Mary released a gardening memoir – My Gardening Life – earlier this year, and in another life feels like she could have been a gardener. She describes him as her ‘second great love’. It’s a passion that started in childhood when she started gardening with her father, but didn’t really become a part of her life until much later. ‘After the kids (got older) I got really keen on gardening. My agent told me that when your kids are away at school and your time is less demanding, I wouldn’t be surprised if you enjoy gardening. And she was absolutely right. We started our first garden when we had children. It was a rugby pitch, a cricket pitch, kids running around and you keep telling them to get out of bed and they won’t.’ Later, she reclaimed the land and taught him how to make it beautiful.
She and her husband, Paul, soon make a good team in the garden. ‘When I went to Sutton Place (a Tudor house in Surrey) they had lots of yew hedges of different shapes and sizes and I came home and said I think we can do something with that lawn which doesn’t look so good. And (Paul) said “Here’s some graph paper – draw it”.
‘I think he likes the peace of going out in the garden and dead heading. As soon as you get out in the fresh air, your worries will go away. It does us a lot of good, and you come back and you’re so happy again.’
At home in Oxfordshire, where they moved six years ago, they have a potting shed, greenhouse and new beds designed to suit the couple’s age and stage. ‘I look forward to future years when I may not be so capable, so we have raised beds made of bricks. A lot of people just have wooden ones but this is at a height you can sit on.’
