was divided into bedrooms. Miss Hamilton, who owned Mickleton Manor, was said to have told Mrs Muir that the sprung floor of the ballroom was one of the most expensive items in the building of Kiftsgate. In 1954 they moved to the Front Lodge and their eldest daughter Diany Binny and her husband Tony Binny came to live at Kiftsgate. They pulled down three sides of a courtyard containing sixteen rooms which is now the gravelled forecourt used for parking coaches. In 1974 Mrs D. Binny moved to the Front Lodge, where she lived until her death in 2005. Kiftsgate remained empty until 1981 when Diana's eldest daughter Anne and her husband Jonathan undertook major modernisation of the house making their home in the central part and creating a separate flat and tea room. Kiftsgate remains a family home as originally intended by the owner's grandparents. The Gardens The garden at Kiftsgate up to 1920 consisted of the paved formal garden in front of the portico, beyond which was a plain grass field with wooded banks. The first thing Mrs J.B. Muir did was to make a lawn with steps leading to it from the formal paved garden, this was quickly followed by taking in what is now the Yellow Border and the Rose Border; the connecting bridge was built and the yew and copper beech hedges planted. Many people would have thought they had achieved enough but in 1930 the steep bank was tackled, and a summer house with steps either side down to the lower garden was built. The hard tennis court, now the modern water garden, was made in the 1930s and the yew hedge was planted around it at the same time. During the war the tennis court, which required continual watering and upkeep, was allowed to become derelict and in 1955 there was a wonderful display of seedling roses and Scotch firs growing on it, which Mrs J.B. Muir was very grieved to see go, when it was resurfaced. In making the garden at Kiftsgate there is no doubt that Heather Muir was greatly helped and inspired by her lifelong friend Major Lawrence Johnston, who created the garden next door at Hidcote Manor. Whilst influenced by Hidcote next door, unlike Hidcote it was never formally planned and is considered by Keen (a garden designer) to be "a prettier, less organised place". The flower picture in