A New Family .sx Bernard and Barbara's marriage marked a new beginning for both of them .sx It ended five years of widowhood for Barbara , after a first marriage which in later years she herself described as having been very much " a boy and girl affair " ; and it gave Bernard the first settled home of his adult life .sx Barbara had been born Barbara Jekyll in 1887 , second of the three children of Sir Herbert and Lady Jekyll .sx The Jekylls were an old English family who came originally from Lincolnshire and East Anglia .sx Their most famous forebear was Sir Joseph Jekyll , Master of the Rolls in the reigns of Queen Anne .sx Another Joseph Jekyll was a famous wit and a prominent member of the Prince Regent's circle .sx Colonel Sir Herbert Jekyll was educated at 'The Shop' - Woolwich Academy - where he won the Sword of Honour and went on to serve with the Royal Engineers in the Ashanti War .sx As Private Secretary to Lord Carnarvon , and as Secretary to the Royal Commission for the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Overseas , he travelled to Singapore and Ceylon to report on fortifications and to design new ones .sx His other posts included being Private Secretary for three years to Lord Crewe while he was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ( 1892-5 ) ; British Commissioner of the 1900 Paris Exhibition , for which he appointed Edwin Lutyens to design the British Pavillion ; and Secretary of the Board of Trade .sx In addition Herbert was a keen gardener , a gifted wood carver , an organist and a founder member of the Bach Choir .sx In 1881 he married Agnes , daughter of William Graham , Liberal MP for Glasgow , whose numerous projects included managing a maternity home in the East End , working as chairman of the visiting committee for a girls' Borstal and chairman of a hospital supplies warehouse for St John of Jerusalem during the Great War .sx At the first dinner party of their married life the guests included Robert Browning , John Ruskin and Sir Edward Burne-Jones .sx She was the first person to supply recipes to The Times , which were later published in 1922 as Kitchen Essays , with recipes and their occasions .sx Barbara's early years were spent at Munstead in a close-knit and happy family .sx As was the custom of the period , she and her younger sister Pamela were educated mostly at home , and only her brother Timmy was sent to boarding school .sx Timmy had a brilliant beginning , getting into College at Eton , where he won the classical Newcastle Scholarship in 1900 and then an Exhibition to Balliol College , Oxford ; but unfortunately his early promise did not endure .sx Barbara and Pamela , a lively and intelligent pair of sisters remained close , however , all their lives .sx In 1908 , at the age of eighteen , Pamela married Reginald McKenna , then First Lord of the Admiralty , who was twenty-four years older than she was .sx By the time Bernard first met him in 1916 he was Chancellor of the Exchequer .sx In 1922 , when Bernard and Barbara married , he was Chairman of the Midland Bank , a position he retained until his death .sx 'Reggie' was one of the few people of whom Bernard was always much in awe and he frequently turned to him for advice .sx " Reggie is undoubtedly the wisest man I know , " Bernard used to say .sx Bernard also acquired a number of lively aunts by his marriage .sx The most remarkable as well as the most formidable was Gertrude Jekyll ( 1843-1932) .sx Through her books she probably did more than anyone else to change the face of English gardening at the beginning of the century .sx Her talents were wide-ranging and diverse .sx She was a competent painter , and from her workshop came a steady stream of metalwork including salvers worked in silver .sx She was an expert at carving in wood , and also a photographer , who developed and printed her own films .sx For nearly forty years she and Sir Edwin Lutyens worked together - he as architect of the house , she designing the garden - culminating in the Viceroy's House in New Delhi .sx When Bernard knew her she had entered the last decade of her life .sx In one respect Gertrude was fortunate , namely the age in which she lived .sx When she was born gardens were mostly elaborately formal , laid out in accordance with a rigid Italianate pattern .sx By the time she began to take an interest in gardening in the late 1870s the tradition was ripe for change .sx In conjunction with other kindred spirits , such as William Robinson , Gertrude began to experiment with more informal garden layouts .sx The first was at her new home at Munstead House , which was built the year after her father's death in 1876 .sx Gradually , as her scope and experience increased , she started to write articles in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society , Country Life and other papers and magazines .sx By the turn of the century she was ready to consolidate her knowledge into a series of gardening books which became classics in her own lifetime .sx In her later years she became more and more of a recluse , cutting herself off from a world with which she felt increasingly out of sympathy .sx At heart she was a Victorian countrywoman who rejoiced in nature's order of things .sx Bernard and Gertrude got on well together .sx When Bernard went to Moore Barracks at Shorncliffe in 1929 Gertrude made a design for the Commanding Officer's small garden there .sx It was among the last things she did .sx After Sir Herbert Jekyll's funeral on 3 October 1932 , Sir Edwin Lutyens went to see Gertrude :sx Afterwards I saw Bumps [Sir Edwin's nickname for Gertrude] , self - possessed and herself - very feeble she was in her bedroom with a delicious dark blue felt cap on her head .sx She was very happy with Bernard [Freyberg] who sees a good deal of her and asks her endless questions and waits for her deliberate answers in which she delights .sx .sx Gertrude died two months later on 8 December 1932 .sx Caroline Eden ( n e e Jekyll ) was another gardening aunt of Barbara's .sx Born in 1837 , she was the eldest sister of Herbert and Gertrude .sx In 1867 she married Frederick Eden and because he suffered from poor health they decided to make their home in Venice .sx Caroline lived there for the next fifty years .sx Their house , called the Palazzo Barbarigo , was at the entrance to the Grand Canal and they also had a large garden on the Guidecca , which inevitably became known to the considerable English community in Venice as the Garden of Eden .sx Aunt Caroline's ( or 'Cary's' ) house in Venice was very popular with her family in England .sx It gave them not only the excuse for visits but a comfortable residence once they got there , after the twenty-four hour journey on the Orient Express .sx Barbara stayed at the Palazzo Barbarigo several times before the First World War .sx After Frederick Eden died in 1916 Cary decided to remain until the war was over .sx She was still there in July 1922 when Bernard and Barbara stayed during the second part of their honeymoon .sx She died in London in 1928 aged ninety-one .sx Barbara's mother Agnes had four sisters , of whom the closest to her was Frances .sx In 1883 Frances married Sir John Horner of Mells Manor near Frome in Somerset .sx Mells was that rarest and most desirable of all properties , a small Elizabethan manor house .sx It had come into the Horner family after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537 , and before then had belonged to the Abbey of Glastonbury .sx This was the origin of the nursery rhyme about Little Jack Horner pulling out a plum - Mells Manor .sx Lady Horner , an intellectual and a leading hostess in Edwardian times , was one of the 'Souls' - the group , including Arthur Balfour and Margot Asquith , who used to meet from time to time in each other's houses to discuss philosophy and the topics of the day .sx For nearly half a century , because of Frances and Agnes , there was a close link between Munstead and Mells .sx This continued into the next generation through Pamela and Barbara , for when the time came for the McKennas to find themselves a country house in the early 1920s they came to an arrangement with the Horners and commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to rebuild Mells Park , which had burnt down in 1917 .sx Bernard and Barbara used frequently to visit Mells in the early years of their marriage .sx Alice Hogg was another of Barbara's aunts .sx By the time Bernard came on the scene she was dead , but her son Douglas was much in their life at this period .sx In later years as Lord Hailsham he was appointed Lord Chancellor ( 1928-9 and 1935-8 ) , an office held in 1970 and 1979 by his son , the irrepressible Quintin .sx In the early years of his marriage Bernard also came into frequent contact with the first Lord and Lady Aberconway , the parents of Barbara's first husband Francis McLaren .sx They always took a close interest in their grandsons and lent their house , Bodnant , to Barbara and Bernard for their honeymoon .sx The Freyberg 'family' consisted of Bernard , Barbara and Paul ( born 1923 ) ; but also Barbara's two sons , Bernard's stepsons , Martin and Guy McLaren .sx One of the reasons why Barbara took so long to agree to marry Bernard had been because she wanted to be certain that her sons would accept him in place of their own father , whom they were too young to remember .sx She also wanted to be sure that Bernard would treat them as if they were his own children .sx On both counts she never had any cause for regret .sx Martin and Guy were quite different from each other .sx Martin was serious-minded , scholarly , good at games , fond of music and with a keen sense of history and of beauty .sx Guy was an extrovert , interested in people rather than abstract theory .sx He was particularly good at making friends and enjoying life , and was more at home on the racecourse than in the library .sx One other important member of our family circle was my mother's maid Muriel Tolley , or Milly as she was invariably called , who came from Breamore in Wiltshire .sx Although strictly speaking she was not one of the family , she was certainly one by adoption .sx She was the principal prop of the household and played a major part in my father's life for thirty years .sx Cooks , parlourmaids , housemaids and nannies came and went , but Milly was always there - even during the Second World War when my mother travelled to Egypt and Italy with 2 NZEF - and because of her continuity she acquired a remarkable influence and authority .sx All of us , my mother , my father and we three boys , were devoted to Milly , and I believe that the feeling was returned , although there were moments when this was far from obvious .sx Millie could be very much of a disciplinarian , and when I was little and had done something I should not have done I was far more concerned about what Milly , rather than my parents , might say .sx When roused she had a remarkable command of the English language , and could give a more effective 'rocket' than any I ever heard in twenty-five years in the Grenadier Guards .sx In the early days my brothers and I would say to each other , " Watch out , Milly's on the warpath , " in tones of alarm tinged with no little apprehension .sx Even my father was not immune from Milly's strictures .sx Although she was devoted to him her first loyalty was always to my mother .sx Several generations of ADCs would testify that in small matters my father was often vague and absent - minded .sx But none of them would have dared to say to him what Milly did when he lost the special gloves my mother had given him , or forgot her birthday .sx My parents' marriage was an extremely happy one .sx They were to go through many anxious times together , particularly during the Second World War , but it was made sustainable by the deep love and affection they had for each other .sx Bernard and Barbara were both strong characters , but because they were quick to adapt to each other's ways their personalities complemented one another and rarely clashed .sx