A grand walk. What a place! I love the shell folly, and wouldn’t that old farmhouse with its bell house make a lovely dwelling for someone with the money to bring it back? Not that it doesn’t look wonderful in its present state, but they don’t build them like that anymore.
Do you know any more about that Holly? I’ve seen cultivars without prickly leaves, but usually in planned gardens, and not with the red bark. It may be a rarity. Many of our variegated, split leafed, curly leafed, twisted stemmed shrubs and trees have simply been chanced upon and cuttings taken, or crossed with other species of the same genus. The Victorians brought and made us many of these, but many happened because someone took notice and took a cutting or showed it to someone who did. I happened upon a website a while ago asking for people to report any they find, and I didn’t save it to my notes.