This is a view of the "back garden", Croome Court looking towards Malvern Hills. Croome is the ancestral home of the Earl of Coventry and is loaned to the National Trust. It's recent history is quite different to the usual NT properties mainly due to the antics of Ted, (Viscount Edward George William Oscar Deerhurst) the son of the 11th Earl of Coventry never wanted to inherit the title or lifestyle and his real love of life was surfing which he took up in California where he was brought up by his mother when his parents divorced. His father brought him back to England when he was 15 with the expectation that eventually he would take his place in the House of Lords. Ted promptly dyed his hair orange in protest! He was always broke and tried his hand as a waiter, petrol pump attendant, barista and male model. Eventually he represented GB as a surfer. In the 1990's he was disowned and disinherited and he died in North Shore, Hawaii in 1997 at the age of just 40. His father outlived him.
Ian