I was recently sat next to a celebrated garden designer at dinner party. Despite knowing it’s not really the done thing to ask someone endless questions about their work at a gathering, I couldn’t resist. I wanted so badly to know what mad things the moneyed London folk are putting in their gardens and was hoping for something debauched or unhinged, perhaps a champagne-dispensing fountain or a sort of Stonehenge replica around which chanting could take place.
What emerged was a rather more sobering – and sober – admission: rather than madcap parties with cocktails galore, the very rich are on the whole still pursuing wellness with all their might, and as such their manicured gardens are more often than not home to either a sauna cabin or an ice plunge pool/bath. Sometimes both. Said designer also told me that she is seeing an uptick in people wanting infrared chambers, to which I replied “very wise, don’t we all.”
