JESSE EDBROOKE: Welcome to the National Trust Podcast. This is

an episode about World Heritage Heroes, which highlights some of

the inspiring individuals and organisations fighting to

preserve nature, beauty and history for future generations.

I'm Jesse Edbrooke, a producer at National Trust, and today our

story takes us to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to

discover the twinning by the international National Trust

organisation that connects a new Rose Garden in the city. With

one of the world's most important collections of roses

in Mottisfont and Hintonampena in Hampshire.

Ethiopia is often named the cradle of civilization because

the oldest known human fossils were found here. Its culture has

influenced countries all over the world. For example, coffee

originated here, and 2.25 billion cups of it are drunk

around the world in one day.

Addis Ababa, the capital city, is 2,440 meters above sea level.

The country's high altitude, abundant sunshine, and moderate

temperatures create perfect conditions for growing

high-quality roses. The country is now the fourth largest rose

exporter in the world. The roses are intrinsically linked with

royalty and heritage.

To find out more about this connection, we have flown 3,000

miles to meet Princess Esther Selassie Antohin,

great-granddaughter of the Emperor Haile Selassie, who

ruled from 1930 to 1974.

Princess Esther fled the country as a teenager after the

Ethiopian revolution and lived in exile for almost 40 years.

She finally returned and formed Heritage Watch Ethiopia to

protect some of the quickly disappearing history and also

empower younger generations in horticulture and design. We meet

her in a peaceful space amidst the hustle and bustle of the

center of Addis Ababa.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: I'm Esther Selassie-Antohen.

I was born and raised in Addis Ababa.

Left Ethiopia really very abruptly and under very

traumatic conditions after the 1974 revolution.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Many of Princess Esther's family were imprisoned

during the revolution, but she managed to escape, along with

some of her younger brothers and sisters, through Kenya, Sweden

and West Germany before being permitted to enter the USA.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Really had left Ethiopia and

never thought I'd be part of it. And here I have to credit... My

late husband, Anatoly Antohin, who just basically said, no,

you've got to face your demons. You've got to look at what

Ethiopia is. You were forced out at a very young age. You carry

Ethiopia with you, whether you realize this or not.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Princess Esther and her husband, Anatoly, moved

back to Ethiopia and began to reconnect with her roots. They

lived in Esther's grandmother's property, which had fallen INTO

disrepair, and worked on restoring it together. They also

visited many places in the city. That previously held too many

painful memories to go to.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: There was a lot going on about

reclaiming your identity in a place where it had really been

taken away. So we came, and sadly he brought me back in.

Then he didn't live to see all of what he started, but he was

right.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Anatoly sadly passed away two years after they

moved to Ethiopia. After his death, one of the places that

the Princess was drawn to was the House in which her family

grew up. It was built on land that was donated to the Addis

Ababa University.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Because when I passed by all the

time, I was very curious, saw how badly the facade of it was,

and it looked so lonely and unkept. And it's funny how

houses do speak. There was just nothing there for it to say to

me. So I'll never forget, I came through the front gates and came

up to the building and I asked the guard, do you know whose

House it is? And he said, well, somebody important during the

imperial time.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The imperial time was the rule of Emperor

Haile Selassie. The emperor's eldest son, Crown Prince

Asferwassen, was Princess Esther's grandfather, and this

was his House and gardens.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: So to me, that was a start

point. I wrote a concept note to the university, basically

saying, a disabled university is a heritage. It started with the

land grant given by Emperor Heile Selassie to the

university. This is also the Crown Prince's House.

I think it's really inappropriate for the loss of

the history. I was very passionate the way I wrote it

down. If I could just get a go from the university, this would

be the ideal place. It all really matched up.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The Tsegereda Rose Garden Project was born,

which aimed to create a beautiful public garden

showcasing climate resilience and presenting through the

flowers and design a different side of history that Princess

Esther feels is no longer told.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: That history has painted my

ancestors and my people I grew up with as something monstrous

and uncaring. And it's a terrible, terrible picture that

they have. So being able to give them a different picture to me

is important.

JESSE EDBROOKE: One of the key aspects of the vision is to

empower the next generation with skills, opportunity and hope for

the future.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: I hope next generations will

seek the truth, will seek justice and bring all the

potential to realization. I believe in the future, but the

future that respects and loves, loves. I think love is at the

heart of it for me because people might think how naive,

but the longer I live, the more I'm convinced that. The biggest

value there is in life is love. Maybe that's what I want to

simply say.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The work that Princess and her team are doing

on heritage has continued, despite this being a challenging

time for conservation in the country.

But now it's time to visit the garden and experience the space

for ourselves.

Joining the exchange are two horticulturalists from the

National Trust, Jen and Michael, who are enjoying a freshly

ground Ethiopian coffee after an overnight flight.

JENNIFER HARBROW: I'm Jen, I'm a gardener at Hinton Ampner and we

have just arrived in Ethiopia. I've been invited out to Addis

Ababa as part of a climate resilience program to talk about

our gardens but also specifically about roses.

MICHAEL HARVEY: I'm Michael Harvey, so I'm the senior

gardener for Mottesfont, so I'm in charge of the Rose Garden.

It's one of the most important rose collections in the world

and it's one that I'm trying to preserve. Coming to a place like

Addis Ababa, it's an experience to say the least.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Jen and Michael started working together at the

National Trust's Hinton Ampner in Hampshire.

MICHAEL HARVEY: So Jen and I worked together for four and a

half years. Yeah. Yeah, it was a great experience.

JENNIFER HARBROW: We kind of grew up as gardeners together a

bit, actually.

JESSE EDBROOKE: So what were some of the key things that Jen

and Michael wanted to learn from the visit and the international

collaboration?

JENNIFER HARBROW: So I'm really interested to see harvesting,

storing rainwater and some of the really practical things that

gardeners... Are doing here to manage what I understand are

hotter, drier summers and wet winters.

MICHAEL HARVEY: It's actually to see what roses they grow in

Ethiopia. There's not often a place that you come to and that

actually can see a different variety of rose that probably

nowhere else actually grows it. And also it's like the

conditions that that rose has to withstand. It's a once in a

lifetime opportunity to come to somewhere like Addis Ababa and

to meet Esther and all her team.

JESSE EDBROOKE: 15-minute taxi ride to the north of the city to

visit the Tsigerida Rose Garden.

JENNIFER HARBROW: So we're in the middle of Addis Ababa. It's

lovely and sunny, but it's not really hot and it's still very

green. There's still a lot of plants around and foliage.

MICHAEL HARVEY: So we're meeting the team of Heritage Watch

Ethiopia. We've been in constant talks with them talking about

how roses and gardens have been withstanding change. Yeah, so

it's going to be really exciting to finally see it in person.

JENNIFER HARBROW: It's going to be quite an experience, I think.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Winding in and out of the traffic, taking in

views of the cityscape, they arrived at the Addis Ababa

University to be met for the first time in person by Heritage

Watch Ethiopia's Princess Esther.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Welcome, everybody.

JENNIFER HARBROW: Thank you.

MICHAEL HARVEY: Michael, yeah? Yeah. It's an absolute pleasure

to be here. It really is.

JENNIFER HARBROW: Hi, I'm Jen. It's lovely to come and see the

garden. Really great as we came round the corner to see how

beautiful it is.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: So shall we head over there?

JENNIFER HARBROW: Great.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Tsegereda means the rose in English.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: We're coming to the first

section of the collections here, which we've named the Royal

Family Collection. Urban horticulture in Addis Ababa

started roughly around the 40s. And at that time, one of the

groups of people who were bringing in and appreciating

gardens was the Royal Family.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Many members of the Royal Family had acquired a

love of roses from time they spent in England in the 1930s.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Right next to that is the plant

selections for drought resistance. The reason being in

Ethiopia as a nation we suffer from drought and so to showcase

drought-resistant plants made a lot of sense, of which we

feature these wonderfully grown false banana trees. The root of

it is taken out and eaten by the people of Guragye, especially

it's a delicacy.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Ethiopia is experiencing more extreme

weather events, so not only does the garden aim to showcase

flood-resistant varieties of plants, such as tubers, but also

drought-resistant varieties.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: In the centre of the garden we

have four sections. And they represent all the plants we've

selected for flood resistant flowers.

JENNIFER HARBROW: Ah, flood, okay.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: As you see, quite a variety of

colours. And because flood is a big issue, every year it gets

worse and worse. The rainy season is longer and the level

of water is more intense. Very intense.

JESSE EDBROOKE: There was a prominent place for a lush

evergreen shrub with dark green leaves sprouting in pairs,

beneath which were small green beans.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: We have the coffee. Of course,

we can't not have the coffee in a garden such as this, because

coffee originated here in Ethiopia, in the Kapa region.

JENNIFER HARBROW: The coffee here is amazing. So much better

than the coffee I drink at home. It really is!

JESSE EDBROOKE: With caffeine continuing to fight our jet lag,

we approached a meticulously landscaped runoff that drains

excess rainwater after heavy flooding. Plants that were

flood-resistant varieties bound the soil with their roots to

mitigate the effects of erosion.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: A very important feature is the

rain garden, which we designed. It can be done in any home. We

have devised all sorts of ways for the water to go out. A

beautiful collection of flowers specifically for that is there.

So it would be nice to educate people to emulate this.

JESSE EDBROOKE: And then the highlight of the garden.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: So finally we come to the

centerpiece. Here is the rose. This particular variety is

special in that it also represents heritage. And they're

all scented. In the spring, it was absolutely stunning. When

you walked by, you had all these scents.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Commercial roses are scentless, but these roses

that represented heritage were the classic kind, fully scented.

The master gardener for the Tsegereda garden planted a

specific delicate pink climbing rose in the centre of the

garden. It was a variety that belonged to an English family

with a significant connection to Ethiopia.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: He could identify which

household it came from. Really? Yes, and he could identify Rita

Pankhurst, is the wife of Richard Pankhurst, the son of

Sylvia Pankhurst, the suffragette. By the way, Sylvia

Pankhurst is huge in Ethiopia, as is Richard, because they were

dedicated to Ethiopian history.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Sylvia Pankhurst came from Manchester. She

petitioned the British government to liberate Ethiopia

from fascist rule in the late 1930s. Following the liberation,

she spent the rest of her days in Ethiopia, a friend of the

Royal Family, and after her death in 1960, received a full

state funeral at which the emperor named her an honorary

Ethiopian.

Her rose honours that deep commitment to friendship and

justice.

MICHAEL HARVEY: But seeing roses which are actually heritage,

still growing, still...

Thriving in different places is fantastic yeah i just i'm so

pleased they look they look like they're putting on so much

healthy growth as well the thing is the soils is so different

here it's more red it's more clay like but they're just so

happy and it's just it's just lovely lovely to see it does

make you quite emotional actually

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: So yeah by then Michael because

i think it's nothing more beautiful than the rose.

JESSE EDBROOKE: 18 different varieties of roses are showcased

with rich reds soft pinks and warm golden tones creating a

peaceful atmosphere. The work on the garden started in March 2024

and was completed at the end of the year with a celebration. But

what was the place like to begin with?

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: I'll share with you some images

of what this place was before the garden. It was a very

discarded, rough area where literally students would crawl

in there with the dust and sit on it. The transformation is

amazing. Where... Our horticulture heritage comes

from, which in the case of Addis Ababa is the 1930s, 40s. Looking

at it from now, it's a story.

JESSE EDBROOKE: It's great.

JENNIFER HARBROW: There's so many levels of meaning to this

garden. That's what's fascinating. The more you talk

about it, the roses and their links to Ethiopian history and

the people that are involved, and then also the drought

tolerant garden and your rain garden. There's so many things

to it. And it's beautiful. And I love it. The curves in it, I

wasn't sure what to expect. And it is a really nice place to be

in.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The garden has been transformed from a dust

heap to the oasis of calm and beauty that it now is.

Princess Esther expands on her personal connection to the

garden when her grandfather, the Crown Prince, owned it.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: I grew up here and I ran around.

That House over there was the children's House.

JESSE EDBROOKE: What games did you play there?

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Hide and Seek. It would be all

around this House. This is the children's House.

As you can see, it's kind of miniature. They've let it go

quite a bit. And bicycling, we were not allowed for some

reason. I don't know. The girls weren't supposed to bike. And we

would. And sometimes he would show up and we'd have to hide.

And to hide, sometimes we'd dash INTO the bushes with our bikes.

I remember that with my sister. One time we were trying to

disappear from view and it wasn't very successful. We

thought they would be more mad than they actually ended up

being mad. But growing up, Ethiopian culture was more kids

are to be seen and not heard. So we just took that to the nth

degree sometimes ourselves. You know, a lot of wonderful memory.

I mean, we'd come to say hello to him.

JESSE EDBROOKE: This House would be filled with laughter of

children then.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Yes, yes, it would. All of that

is a wonderful memory.

JESSE EDBROOKE: After one more magnificent Ethiopian coffee, it

was time to return to the UK. Before heading to Mottessfont,

Princess Esther represented the Ethiopian Royal Family at the

celebrations of Emperor Haile Selassie's final visit to Bath

70 years ago. To fully understand why these are

important, we need to travel back to Ethiopia almost a

century ago. Here's historian Ras Benji.

RAS BENJI: The Ethiopia of the early 20th century was a

glorious Ethiopia that was this uncolonized place full of

ancient kings and queens and the oldest Christian history.

JESSE EDBROOKE: In 1930, a new emperor was crowned, Emperor

Haile Selassie. He traced his lineage back to Emperor Menelik

I, said to be the child of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

In 1936, the young Emperor Haile Selassie faced a crisis. The

fascist Italians, led by Mussolini, invaded Ethiopia.

After fighting in the battle, the emperor and his family fled

and arrived in the UK.

RAS BENJI: So he moved to Bath. He took the healing waters of

Bath on his mustard gas-burned arms. And then he purchased

Fairfield House for £3,500.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Fairfield House is a large detached House on the

outskirts of the city.

RAS BENJI: So began those five long, difficult years of

Ethiopian exile here. But the people of Bath were so kind to

him. And people volunteered to do what they could for the

emperor.

They gave gifts of coal. And food so the House would be kept

warm and the people would be well fed.

And generally just showed him a lot of kindness and support,

people of Bath writing in the newspapers constantly, standing

with the emperor.

After World War One there was a great anxiety of this global

conflict, so it was very possible that that would erupt

again.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The emperor attended the League Of Nations

and gave a prophetic speech in which he warned against the

rising powers of fascism and that they would not be satisfied

with only occupying Ethiopia.

RAS BENJI: His Majesty, he was known to take a daily walk in

the city of Bath. He'd head from Fairfield INTO the city and

quite often come back on the River Avon. And many people that

saw him on his walk, they were used to greeting the emperor.

They said that the emperor had impeccable manners.

Often he'd have his small dog with him. The emperor went to a

number of churches in Bath. His Christian faith was very

important, and he established a chapel at Fairfield House. So

they had a tabot that was brought from Jerusalem and that

made the first Ethiopian Orthodox church in this country.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Whilst bringing and celebrating Ethiopian

culture in the UK, Emperor Haile Selassie was also keenly engaged

in British culture and took a real interest in the local

horticultural trends in particular.

RAS BENJI: His Majesty was actually featured on a magazine

called Success with Roses. He's on the front cover planting

roses with other priests. And at Fairfield House, this time 70

years ago, over 400 plants were planted in a restored garden.

And the headline said, the roses are blooming. So roses were

special symbolism to the emperor. And I learned on my

trip to Ethiopia that roses are the symbol of nobility. Of

heritage to do with the kings and queens.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Emperor Haile Selassie's government in exile,

along with support from English figures such as the suffragette

Sylvia Pankhurst, petitioned countries across the world to

come to Ethiopia's aid against the Italians.

Finally, in 1941, two years after the start of the Second

World War, the British army helped the Ethiopian army win a

decisive victory and Emperor Haile Selassie was returned to

the throne as ruler.

RAS BENJI: He never forgot that kindness that the people showed

him. So he came back here 70 years ago today, returning to

the city of Bath. Becoming a free man of the city of Bath.

He stayed here for the best part of the week, visiting schools

and hospital and other local institutions, thanking his

friends and seeing them again after 13 years away from this

country. And then the emperor gifted his home to the city of

Bath a few years later. So it became a place for the elderly

and still is today.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Fairfield House provides regular events for the

elderly in many sections of the community. And continues to be a

portal to the world.

Princess Esther is still helping to shape this positive legacy

today.

RAS BENJI: She helped found the Kidani Meharet prayer room and

just representing her great-grandfather in a number of

occasions and difficult moments also, showing leadership

qualities, obviously, that have come from His Majesty. And her

Majesty.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Communities in the city gathered to celebrate

the 70-year anniversary with live Ethio-jazz, reggae, and

gospel performances at the National Trust Assembly Rooms,

Bath Abbey, and Bath Spa University, showing the depth of

relationship between Ethiopia and the people of Bath. There

are also plans for a new collection of roses to be

planted in the garden of Fairfield House in the near

future.

The time came to visit Jen and Michael at Mottisfont. The

property has a historic House which was built in the 1300s as

a priory and has had many notable owners including King

Henry VIII's Lord Chamberlain but today we're focusing on its

world-famous Rose Garden.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Here we are finally come and see

Mottisfont. It's a beautiful grounds I could see. A group

right up front a familiar face of Michael, i see and others.

Michael let me see yes yes this is awesome oh typical that's

home i said it's not going to rain and it's ah yeah i got the

whole nine yards weather included.

MICHAEL HARVEY: I think we're going to start making our way up

to the Rose Garden.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The grounds at Mottisfont are 2,080 acres and

the anticipation built as we neared the garden.

MICHAEL HARVEY: See that wall over there? That's the Rose

Garden. You can't tell there's a Rose Garden behind that wall.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The number of visitors every year is extremely

high.

MICHAEL HARVEY: 85,000 visitors. The whole size of Wembley

Stadium descending on this garden is incredible.

So this is the main entrance to the Rose Garden.

JESSE EDBROOKE: One of the foremost Rosarians. Or experts

in roses, is David Stone, and he worked with Graham Stuart Thomas

to care for the Rose Garden. At the entrance, they planted a

special species to welcome visitors.

MICHAEL HARVEY: Because it's such a famous Rose Garden, he

wanted to have a little play on words.

So originally, he put in the pilgrim's rose, because people

make a pilgrimage to Mottisfont to come to the garden. We're

going to spiral them up the posts and train them, so then

actually you'd have flowers galore all the way through.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Michael explained just how crucial the

hard work done in the Rose Garden is.

MICHAEL HARVEY: The place is important mainly because it's

protecting such important varieties of roses. This day and

age, a lot of roses are being dropped because they're not

healthy enough. But at Mottisfont, we're looking after

heritage. We're looking after historic roses that some of them

are the rarest, where you can only find them at one or two

places in the world.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Despite the wet weather today, one of the

problems that Mottisfont is experiencing is extreme heat.

MICHAEL HARVEY: So what we've experienced is a lot of... Of

black spots, a lot of sawfly issues, a lot of drought

problems.

For instance we have some climbing roses on an east-facing

wall and they've suffered with a lot of rose dieback and that's

because being against the wall in the summer we're getting

about 40 degree heat which is causing them to burn and really

struggle so they've died back and so we're seeing a lot of

different changes in the rose world.

JESSE EDBROOKE: A pilgrimage to the garden illustrates how each

rose has its own character and specific needs such as amounts

of light, water, and nutrients. Pruning is also essential to

focus the growth on the flowers. In order for this to happen, a

rose is cut in the winter with secateurs to resemble an ice

cream cone. The next example of this handiwork was a buttery

yellow tea rose.

MICHAEL HARVEY: There is one main roses that I need to show

off. That's because it is easily one of the most important roses.

Yeah.

This rose just here, Isabella Sprunt, is very, very small. But

she is one of the rarest roses.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Okay.

MICHAEL HARVEY: You can see she's just also very small

there.

JESSE EDBROOKE: New roses are created when rose breeders

cross-pollinate different varieties to produce unique

hybrids. These roses often have new traits like color, fragrance

or disease resistance.

A breeder can then name the rose, it's often after famous

people, and the name is registered with the

International Cultivar Registration Authority for

roses, so it is officially recognised. In this way, a rose

can encapsulate and reflect history. One of the key roses in

the garden was named after a well-known rosarian in the UK.

MICHAEL HARVEY: So Graham Thomas, he was one of the top

Rosarians in the country.

He was the man who created this Rose Garden. He brought roses

from all across the world, America, Australia, and brought

these collections all together. But because he got such a

reputation, they created a rose called the Graham Thomas Rose,

which is this rose.

It's repeat flowering, beautiful yellow, golden rose. So it's

absolutely stunning. It's very difficult to grow sometimes

because roses put so much energy INTO flowering that sometimes it

loses its leaves, it's more susceptible to black spots. It's

one of the most important roses in the garden, history-wise.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Yes Michael's team is small and incredibly

dedicated as the sheer amount of work to protect one of the most

important rose gardens in the world is huge he couldn't do

this work without members of the public giving their time

currently in the garden team.

MICHAEL HARVEY: I have 30 amazing volunteers who might

actually meet when we go around the corner

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: All ages?

MICHAEL HARVEY: All ages! We've got volunteers younger than

myself and i've got a volunteer in their late 70s.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Nice community!

JESSE EDBROOKE: Many of the volunteers are keenly following

the twinning relationship with the Tsegereda Rose Garden.

MICHAEL HARVEY: I'm going to bump into my volunteers who are

doing an amazing job just around the corner. There they are.

These are my amazing team. I haven't said good morning to

them this morning. Hello stranger, are you alright? Good

to see you. Good to see you too. Wonderful.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Thank you for having me.

JESSE EDBROOKE: One of the main concepts that gardeners in Addis

Ababa are observing is the use of mulch. Mulch is a loose

covering of old leaves, plants and garden waste that has been

broken down and is placed on top of soil or compost. It's an

important way of carbon sequestering, reusing nutrients

from broken down soil. How much mulch does the garden and

Mottisfont need?

MICHAEL HARVEY: I'll show you our compost tubes as well.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: Oh, very good. So when does all

that happen in the spring? Winter.

MICHAEL HARVEY: Oh, really? The main reason we do mulching in

the winter is the winter weather will break down the mulch.

Although worms do help.

It does help break it down, so actually you're suppressing the

weeds you're feeding the roses when they need support in the

new growth they need help and so all the feed is in the soil when

you've mulched it and then also it helps with the water

retention in the soil as well we will be mulching in January so

we will be shipping in 110 tons of mulch.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: So the space you have here?

MICHAEL HARVEY: Yes yeah the relationship between Mottisfont

Hinton Ampner and Heritage Watch Ethiopia you has enriched

gardeners with new techniques and international understanding.

How will it continue to grow?

I think the relationship became really strong when we went over

to Ethiopia. After Ethiopia, it's got even stronger. With the

likes of going to Fairfield House and understanding the

history and heritage side of Ethiopia, I think it's amazing.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: I would say the same for us. We

also learned a lot. So when we got this twinning program, we

got how to sustain a garden, how to promote it, composting and of

course withstanding climate change. The Tsegereda garden got

developed as that conversation was developed.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The connections that have been forged between

the gardeners will have a lasting impact on the

development of the projects.

JENNIFER HARBROW: I think that was one of the things I really

got out of Ethiopia. I hadn't appreciated how important

heritage was. Maybe I take it a bit for granted because

obviously people in the UK, it's something we've always done. I

hadn't realised how much we've made a choice to do that. The

garden is one aspect, but when I look at it, having these

beautiful houses that we maintain and the parkland and

the history and the stories that come with it, it adds so much

context to it, doesn't it?

JESSE EDBROOKE: Jen feels that the trip has profoundly impacted

her.

JENNIFER HARBROW: It was a bit of a reset, Ethiopia, really. I

kind of went away as one gardener and then came back and

everything's different.

JESSE EDBROOKE: The findings of the Withstanding Climate Change

Project are already being shared with heritage sites around the

world, and the shared learning is a source of strength.

PRINCESS ESTHER SELASSIE ANTOH.: As Michael said, the

relationship keeps going. It's always about people, isn't it,

in the end? And at that level, I feel very, very happy to get to

know Michael, Jen, whom I consider now friends rather than

just strangers. So friendships happen, but there's much to look

forward to.

JESSE EDBROOKE: Thank you for listening to the National Trust

Podcast. The episode ends here, but if you want to find out more

about the INTO Twinning Partnership, Heritage Watch

Ethiopia, or the world-renowned Rose Garden at Mottisfont or

Hinton Ampner, please search for INTO, Withstanding Change, or

INTO on the National Trust website.

Don't forget, your National Trust membership will allow you

access to other heritage organizations around the world,

including Italy, Canada, Australia, Korea, and... And

even Bermuda. The Withstanding Climate Change Project has been

funded by the British Council's Cultural Protection Fund. To

hear more episodes of the National Trust Podcast, please

subscribe to wherever you get your podcasts.

Watch out for the all-new series, which will be launched

in March 2025, including a new nature series, a new history

series, and Ranger Ray and the Wildlifeers. Until next time,

goodbye.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Our award-winning members' magazine

is now digital. It includes the same great content as the print

magazine, plus interactive features like videos,

soundscapes and podcasts like this one. For a taste of what to

expect, along with five delicious regional recipes from

Trust places, go to nationaltrust.org.UK forward

slash historic hyphen recipes, or see this episode's show notes

to find out how to switch.

Whatever your choice, you'll be helping look after nature,

beauty and history. For everyone, forever.