Sir Frank Crisp at Friar Park in Oxfordshire was another early adopter, with his grand country house garden housing several of the 1m-tall gnomes by the late 1890s.

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Under the plans, the late Georgian country house will get a new garden room and accommodation converted from wood stores on the site.

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We ate lunch out on the terrace of Heath's garden at his beautiful Georgian house in the country town of Salisbury, Wiltshire.

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Ideally situated between San Francisco and San Jose, it's 15 minutes from four 18-hole golf courses, a short drive from Purisima Creek Open Space Preserve and five miles from tourable Filoli one of the finest remaining country estates of the early 20th century, boasting a 36, 000-square-foot Georgian country house and a spectacular 16-acre English Renaissance garden.

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Back in March, a group of students from across the country joined First Lady Michelle Obama to plant a new crop in the White House garden.

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