People : Harold Nicolson, English Diplomat, Politician, Author, Diarist and Gardener…

Sir Harold George Nicolson KCVO CMG (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was an English diplomat, author, diarist and politician. He was the husband of writer Vita Sackville-West, their unusual relationship being described in their son’s book, Portrait of a Marriage.

Early life

Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the younger son of diplomat Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock. He was educated at Wellington College and Balliol College, Oxford.

Diplomatic career

In 1909 Nicolson joined HM Diplomatic Service. He served as attaché at Madrid from February to September 1911, and then Third Secretary at Constantinople from January 1912 to October 1914. During the First World War, he served at the Foreign Office in London, during which time he was promoted Second Secretary. As the Foreign Office’s most junior employee, it fell to him in August 1914 to hand Britain’s revised declaration of war to the German ambassador in London. He served in a junior capacity in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, for which he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1920 New Year Honours.

Promoted First Secretary in 1920, he was appointed private secretary to Sir Eric Drummond, first Secretary-General of the League of Nations, but was recalled to the Foreign Office in June 1920.

In 1925, he was promoted Counsellor and posted to Tehran as Chargé d’affaires. However, in Summer 1927 he was recalled to London and demoted to First Secretary for criticising his Minister, Sir Percy Loraine, in a dispatch. He was posted to Berlin as Chargé d’affaires in 1928. He was promoted Counsellor again, but resigned from the Diplomatic Service in September 1929.

Political career

From 1930 to 1931, Nicolson edited the Londoner’s Diary for the Evening Standard, but disliked writing about high-society gossip and quit within a year.

In 1931, he joined Sir Oswald Mosley and his recently formed New Party. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament for the Combined English Universities in the general election that year and edited the party newspaper, Action. He ceased to support Mosley when the latter formed the British Union of Fascists the following year.

Nicolson entered the House of Commons as National Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West in the 1935 election. In the latter half of the 1930s he was among a relatively small number of MPs who alerted the country to the threat of fascism. More a follower of Anthony Eden in this regard than of Winston Churchill, he nevertheless was a friend (though not an intimate) of Churchill, and often supported his efforts in the Commons to stiffen British resolve and support rearmament.

He became Parliamentary Secretary and official Censor [2] at the Ministry of Information in Churchill’s 1940 wartime government of national unity, serving under Cabinet member Duff Cooper for approximately a year until he was asked by Churchill to leave his position;[3] thereafter he was a well-respected backbencher, especially on foreign policy issues given his early and prominent diplomatic career. From 1941 to 1946 he was also on the Board of Governors of the BBC. He lost his seat in the 1945 election. Having joined the Labour Party, he stood in the Croydon North by-election in 1948, but lost once again.

Writer

Encouraged in his literary ambitions by his wife Vita Sackville-West, also a writer, Nicolson published a biography of French poet Paul Verlaine in 1921, to be followed by studies of other literary figures such as Tennyson, Byron, Swinburne and Sainte-Beuve. In 1933, he wrote an account of the Paris Peace Conference entitled Peacemaking 1919.

Nicolson is also remembered for his 1932 novel Public Faces, foreshadowing the nuclear bomb. A fictional account of British national policy in 1939, it tells how Britain’s secretary of state tried to keep world peace, even with the Royal Air Force aggressively brandishing rocket airplanes and an atomic bomb. In today’s terms, it was a multi-megaton bomb, and the geology of the Persian Gulf played a central role, but on the other hand, Nicolson never foresaw Hitler.

After Nicolson’s last attempt to enter Parliament, he continued with an extensive social schedule and his programme of writing, which included books, book reviews, and a weekly column for The Spectator.

His diary is one of the pre-eminent British diaries of the 20th century and a noteworthy source on British political history from 1930 through the 1950s, particularly in regard to the run-up to World War II and the war itself: Nicolson served in high enough echelons to write of the workings of the circles of power and the day-to-day unfolding of great events. His fellow parliamentarian Robert Bernays characterized Nicolson as being “…a national figure of the second degree.” Nicolson was variously an acquaintance, associate, friend, or intimate to such figures as Ramsay MacDonald, David Lloyd George, Duff Cooper, Charles de Gaulle, Anthony Eden and Winston Churchill, along with a host of literary and artistic figures.

Personal life

In 1913, Nicolson married Vita Sackville-West. Nicolson and his wife practised what today would be called an open marriage. Once, Nicolson had to follow Vita to France, where she had “eloped” with Violet Trefusis, to try to win her back. Nicolson himself was no stranger to homosexual affairs. Among others, he was involved in a long-term relationship with Raymond Mortimer, whom both he and Vita affectionately referred to as “Tray”. They discussed their shared homosexual tendencies frankly with each other, and remained happy together. They were famously devoted to each other, writing almost every day when separated due to Nicolson’s long diplomatic postings abroad, or Vita’s insatiable wanderlust. Eventually, he gave up diplomacy, partly so they could live together in England.

They had two sons, Benedict, an art historian, and Nigel, a politician and writer. His younger son Nigel published works by and about his parents, including Portrait of a Marriage, their correspondence, and Nicolson’s diary.

In the 1930s, he and his wife acquired and moved to Sissinghurst Castle, near Cranbrook in Kent, the county known as the garden of England. There they created the renowned gardens that are now run by the National Trust.

There is a brown “blue plaque” commemorating him and Vita Sackville-West on their house in Ebury Street, London SW1.

Honours

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1953, as a reward for writing the official biography of George V, which had been published in the previous year.

People : Vita Sackville West. Author, Poet & Gardener and Modern Day Icon

The Hon Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, (9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author, poet and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933. She was known for her exuberant aristocratic life, her passionate affair with the novelist Virginia Woolf, and Sissinghurst Castle Garden, which she and her husband, Sir Harold Nicolson, created at their estate.

Early life

Victoria Sackville-West (known as Vita) was born at Knole House near Sevenoaks, Kent, the only child of Lionel Edward Sackville-West, 3rd Baron Sackville and his wife Victoria Sackville-West, who were cousins. Her mother was the natural daughter of Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville. Christened Victoria Mary Sackville-West, she was known as “Vita” throughout her life, to distinguish her from her mother.

The usual English aristocratic inheritance customs were followed by the Sackville family, which prevented Vita from inheriting Knole on the death of her father. The house followed the title, and was bequeathed instead by her father to his nephew Charles, who became the 4th Baron. The loss of Knole would affect her for the rest of her life; of the signing in 1947 of documents relinquishing any claim on the property, part of its transition to the National Trust, she wrote that “the signing… nearly broke my heart, putting my signature to what I regarded as a betrayal of all the tradition of my ancestors and the house I loved.”

Personal life

Marriage

In 1913, at age 21, Vita married the 27-year-old writer and politician Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) in the private chapel at Knole. Nicknamed Hadji, he was the third son of British diplomat Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock (1849–1928). The couple had an open marriage. Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships, as did some of the people in the Bloomsbury Group of writers and artists, with many of whom they had connections.

These affairs were no impediment to the closeness between Sackville-West and Nicolson, as is seen from their almost daily correspondence (published after their deaths by their son Nigel), and from an interview they gave for BBC radio after World War II. Harold Nicolson gave up his diplomatic career partly so that he could live with Sackville-West in England, uninterrupted by long solitary postings abroad.

Following the pattern of his father’s career, Harold was at different times a diplomat, journalist, broadcaster, Member of Parliament, and author of biographies and novels. The couple lived for a number of years in Cihangir, Constantinople, and were present, in 1926, at the coronation of Rezā Shāh, in Tehran, Persia. They returned to England in 1914 and bought Long Barn in Kent, where they lived from 1915 to 1930. They employed the architect Edwin Lutyens to make many improvements to the house.

The couple had two children: Nigel (1917–2004), a well known editor, politician, and writer, and Benedict (1914–1978), an art historian. In the 1930s, the family acquired and moved to Sissinghurst Castle, near Cranbrook, Kent. Sissinghurst had once been owned by Vita’s ancestors, which gave it a dynastic attraction to her after the loss of Knole. There the couple created the famous gardens that are now run by the National Trust.

Affairs and bisexuality

Rosamund Grosvenor

Vita’s first close friend was Rosamund Grosvenor (5 September 1888 – 30 June 1944), who was four years her senior. She was the daughter of Algernon Henry Grosvenor (1864–1907), and the granddaughter of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury. Vita met Rosamund at Miss Woolf’s school in 1899, when Rosamund had been invited to cheer Vita up while her father was fighting in the Boer war. Rosamund and Vita later shared a governess for their morning lessons. As they grew up together, Vita fell in love with Rosamund, whom she called ‘Roddie’ or ‘Rose’ or ‘the Rubens lady’. Rosamund, in turn, was besotted with Vita. “Oh, I dare say I realized vaguely that I had no business to sleep with Rosamund, and I should certainly never have allowed anyone to find it out,” she admits in her journal, but she saw no real conflict: “I really was innocent.”

Lady Sackville, Vita’s mother, invited Rosamund to visit the family at their villa in Monte Carlo; Rosamund also stayed with Vita at Knole, at Rue Lafitte, and at Sluie. During the Monte Carlo visit, Vita wrote in her diary, “I love her so much.” Upon Rosamund’s departure, Vita wrote, “Strange how little I minded [her leaving]; she has no personality, that’s why.” Their secret relationship ended in 1913 when Vita married. Rosamund died in 1944 during a German V1 rocket raid.

Violet Trefusis

The same-sex relationship that had the deepest and most lasting effect on Sackville-West’s personal life was with the novelist Violet Trefusis, daughter of the Hon. George Keppel and his wife, Alice Keppel, a mistress of King Edward VII. They first met when Vita Sackville-West was 12 and Violet was 10, and attended school together for a number of years.

The relationship began when they were both in their teens. Both later married. Vita and Trefusis had eloped several times from 1918 on, mostly to France, Sackville-West dressing as a man when they went out, as the French writer George Sand (Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, Baroness Dudevant, 1804–1876), had done some 100 years earlier when residing with the Polish musician Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) and her own two children on the Spanish island of Majorca in 1838 and early 1839.

The affair ended badly, with Trefusis pursuing Sackville-West to great lengths until Sackville-West’s affairs with other women finally took their toll.

The two women seem to have made a bond to remain faithful to one another, meaning that although both were married, neither could engage in sexual relations with her own husband. Sackville-West was prompted to end the affair when she heard allegations that Trefusis had been involved sexually with her husband, indicating that she had broken their bond. Despite the rift, the two women were devoted to one another, and deeply in love, and continued to have occasional liaisons for a number of years afterwards, but never rekindled the affair.

Vita’s novel Challenge also bears witness to this affair: Sackville-West and Trefusis had started writing this book as a collaborative endeavour, and the male character’s name, Julian, had been Sackville-West’s nickname when passing as a man. Her mother, Lady Sackville, found the portrayal obvious enough to refuse to allow publication of the novel in England; but Vita’s son Nigel Nicolson (1973, p. 194) praises his mother: “She fought for the right to love, men and women, rejecting the conventions that marriage demands exclusive love, and that women should love only men, and men only women. For this she was prepared to give up everything… How could she regret that the knowledge of it should now reach the ears of a new generation, one so infinitely more compassionate than her own?”

Virginia Woolf

The affair for which Sackville-West is most remembered was with the prominent writer Virginia Woolf in the late 1920s. Woolf wrote one of her most famous novels, Orlando, described by Sackville-West’s son Nigel Nicolson as “the longest and most charming love-letter in literature”, as a result of this affair.

Unusually, the moment of the conception of Orlando was documented: Woolf writes in her diary on 5 October 1927: “And instantly the usual exciting devices enter my mind: a biography beginning in the year 1500 and continuing to the present day, called Orlando: Vita; only with a change about from one sex to the other” (excerpt from her diary published posthumously by her husband Leonard Woolf).

Other affairs

Vita Sackville-West also had a passionate affair between 1929 and 1931 with Hilda Matheson, head of the BBC Talks Department. “Stoker” was the pet name given to Hilda by Sackville-West during their liaison.

In 1931 Sackville-West became involved in a ménage à trois with journalist Evelyn Irons, who had interviewed her after her novel The Edwardians became a bestseller, and Irons’s lover Olive Rinder.

One of Vita’s suitors was Henry Lascelles who married the Princess Royal and became 6th Earl of Harewood.

She was also romantically involved with her sister-in-law Gwen St. Aubyn, Mary Garman and others not listed here.

Well-known writings

The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931) are perhaps her best known novels today. In the latter, the elderly Lady Slane courageously embraces a long suppressed sense of freedom and whimsy after a lifetime of convention. This novel was dramatized by the BBC in 1986 starring Dame Wendy Hiller.

Sackville-West’s science-fantasy Grand Canyon (1942) is a “cautionary tale” (as she termed it) about a Nazi invasion of an unprepared United States. The book takes an unsuspected twist, however, in that makes it something more than a typical invasion yarn.

In 1947 Sackville-West was made a Companion of Honour for her services to literature. The same year she began a weekly column in The Observer called “In your Garden”. In 1948 she became a founder member of the National Trust’s garden committee.

She is less well known as a biographer, and the most famous of those works is her biography of Saint Joan of Arc in the work of the same name. Additionally, she composed a dual biography of Saint Teresa of Ávila and Thérèse of Lisieux entitled The Eagle and the Dove, a biography of the author Aphra Behn, and a biography of her own grandmother, the Spanish dancer known as Pepita., the mother of many children by British diplomat and second Lord Sackville, Lionel Sackville-West, (1829–1908), as stated extensively above, running by 2010 at some 11 editions in English. For instance, the 1985 edition by Telegraph Books, (ISBN 9780897607858). The first edition was Doubleday Publishers, 1937. There was another by Amereon, date unknown, (ISBN 9780848811501).

Her long narrative poem, The Land, won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927. She won it again, becoming the only writer to do so, in 1933 with her Collected Poems.

Legacy

Vita died at Sissinghurst on the 2nd June 1962 and Sissinghurst Castle is now owned by the National Trust, given by Sackville-West’s son Nigel in order to escape payment of inheritance taxes. Its gardens are famous and remain the most visited in all of England.

A recording was made of Vita Sackville-West reading from her poem The Land. This was on four 78rpm sides in the Columbia Records ‘International Educational Society’ Lecture series, Lecture 98 (Cat. no. D 40192/3).

An English Heritage plaque on their house in Ebury Street, London SW1, commemorates her and Harold Nicolson.

Her cremated remains were placed in the Sackville family vault at Withyham Parish Church in East Sussex.

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew : The Largest Compost Heap in Europe…..

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Kew Gardens (formal title Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; brand name Kew) is the world’s largest collection of living plants. Founded in 1840 from the exotic garden at Kew Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, UK, its living collections include more than 30,000 different kinds of plants, while the herbarium, which is one of the largest in the world, has over seven million preserved plant specimens. The library contains more than 750,000 volumes, and the illustrations collection contains more than 175,000 prints and drawings of plants. It is one of London’s top tourist attractions. In 2003, the gardens were put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 750 staff, and is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Its chief executive is the current Director, Richard Deverell. The organisation manages botanic gardens at Kew in Richmond upon Thames in southwest London, and at Wakehurst Place, a National Trust property in Sussex which is home to Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank. The gardens have their own police force, Kew Constabulary, which has been in operation since 1847.

The Kew site, which has been dated as formally starting in 1759, though can be traced back to the exotic garden at Kew Park, formed by Lord Capel John of Tewkesbury, consists of 121 hectares (300 acres) of gardens and botanical glasshouses, four Grade I listed buildings and 36 Grade II listed structures, all set in an internationally significant landscape.

History

Kew, the area in which Kew Gardens are situated, consists mainly of the gardens themselves and a small surrounding community. Royal residences in the area which would later influence the layout and construction of the gardens began in 1299 when Edward I moved his court to a manor house in neighbouring Richmond (then called Sheen). That manor house was later abandoned; however, Henry V built Sheen Palace in 1501, which, under the name Richmond Palace, became a permanent royal residence for Henry VII. Around the start of the 16th century courtiers attending Richmond Palace settled in Kew and built large houses. Early royal residences in Kew included Mary Tudor’s house, which was in existence by 1522 when a driveway was built to connect it to the palace at Richmond. Around 1600, the land that would become the gardens was known as Kew Field, a large field strip farmed by one of the new private estates.

The exotic garden at Kew Park, formed by Lord Capel John of Tewkesbury, was enlarged and extended by Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, the widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales. The origins of Kew Gardens can be traced to the merging of the royal estates of Richmond and Kew in 1722. William Chambers built several garden structures, including the lofty Chinese pagoda built in 1761 which still remains. George III enriched the gardens, aided by William Aiton and Sir Joseph Banks. The old Kew Park (by then renamed the White House), was demolished in 1802. The “Dutch House” adjoining was purchased by George III in 1781 as a nursery for the royal children. It is a plain brick structure now known as Kew Palace.

Some early plants came from the walled garden established by William Coys at Stubbers in North Ockendon. The collections grew somewhat haphazardly until the appointment of the first collector, Francis Masson, in 1771. Capability Brown, who became England’s most renowned landscape architect, applied for the position of master gardener at Kew, and was rejected.

In 1840 the gardens were adopted as a national botanical garden, in large part due to the efforts of the Royal Horticultural Society and its president William Cavendish. Under Kew’s director, William Hooker, the gardens were increased to 30 hectares (75 acres) and the pleasure grounds, or arboretum, extended to 109 hectares (270 acres), and later to its present size of 121 hectares (300 acres). The first curator was John Smith.

The Palm House was built by architect Decimus Burton and iron-maker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848, and was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron. It is considered ” the world’s most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure.” The structure’s panes of glass are all hand-blown. The Temperate House, which is twice as large as the Palm House, followed later in the 19th century. It is now the largest Victorian glasshouse in existence. Kew was the location of the successful effort in the 19th century to propagate rubber trees for cultivation outside South America.

In February 1913, the Tea House was burned down by suffragettes Olive Wharry and Lilian Lenton during a series of arson attacks in London. Kew Gardens lost hundreds of trees in the Great Storm of 1987. From 1959 to 2007 Kew Gardens had the tallest flagpole in Britain. Made from a single Douglas-fir from Canada, it was given to mark both the centenary of the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the bicentenary of Kew Gardens. The flagpole was removed after damage by weather and woodpeckers.

In July 2003, the gardens were put on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Features

Treetop walkway

A new treetop walkway opened in 2008. This walkway is 18 metres (59 ft) high and 200 metres (660 ft) long and takes visitors into the tree canopy of a woodland glade. Visitors can ascend and descend by stairs or by a lift. The floor of the walkway is made from perforated metal and flexes as it is walked upon. The entire structure sways in the wind.

The accompanying image shows a section of the walkway and the steel supports that were designed to rust to a tree-like appearance to help the walkway fit in with its surroundings.

A short film detailing the construction of the walkway is available online.

Sackler Crossing

The Sackler Crossing bridge, made of granite and bronze, opened in May 2006. Designed by Buro Happold and John Pawson, it crosses the lake and is named in honour of philanthropists Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler.

The minimalist-styled bridge is designed as a sweeping double curve of black granite. The sides of the bridge are formed of bronze posts that give the impression, from certain angles, of forming a solid wall whereas from others, and to those on the bridge, they are clearly individual entities that allow a view of the water beyond.

The bridge forms part of a path designed to encourage visitors to visit more of the gardens than had hitherto been popular and connects the two art galleries, via the Temperate and Evolution Houses and the woodland glade, to the Minka House and the Bamboo Garden.

The crossing won a special award from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2008.

Compost heap

Kew has one of the largest compost heaps in Europe, made from green waste from the gardens and the waste from the stables of the Household Cavalry. The compost is mainly used in the gardens, but on occasion has been auctioned as part of a fundraising event for the gardens.

The compost heap is in an area of the gardens not accessible to the public, but a viewing platform, made of wood which had been illegally traded but seized by Customs officers in HMRC, has been erected to allow visitors to observe the heap as it goes through its cycle.

Plant houses

Alpine House

In March 2006, the Davies Alpine House opened, the third version of an alpine house since 1887. Although only 16 metres long the apex of the roof arch extends to a height of 10 metres in order to allow the natural airflow of a building of this shape to aid in the all-important ventilation required for the type of plants to be housed.

The new house features a set of automatically operated blinds that prevent it overheating when the sun is too hot for the plants together with a system that blows a continuous stream of cool air over the plants. The main design aim of the house is to allow maximum light transmission. To this end the glass is of a special low iron type that allows 90 per cent of the ultraviolet light in sunlight to pass. It is attached by high tension steel cables so that no light is obstructed by traditional glazing bars.

To conserve energy the cooling air is not refrigerated but is cooled by being passed through a labyrinth of pipes buried under the house at a depth where the temperature remains suitable all year round. The house is designed so that the maximum temperature should not exceed 20 °C (68 °F).

Kew’s collection of Alpine plants (defined as those that grow above the tree-line in their locale – ground level at the poles rising to over 2,000 metres (6,562 feet)), extends to over 7000. As the Alpine House can only house around 200 at a time the ones on show are regularly rotated.

Nash Conservatory

Originally designed for Buckingham Palace, this was moved to Kew in 1836 by King William IV. With an abundance of natural light, the building is used various exhibitions, weddings, and private events. It is also now used to exhibit the winners of the photography completion.

Orangery

The Orangery was designed by Sir William Chambers, and was completed in 1761. It measures 28 m x 10 m. After many changes of use, it is currently used as a restaurant.

Palm House

The Palm House (1844–1848) was the result of cooperation between architect Decimus Burton and iron founder Richard Turner, and continues upon the glass house design principles developed by John Claudius Loudon and Joseph Paxton. A space frame of wrought iron arches, held together by horizontal tubular structures containing long prestressed cables, supports glass panes which were originally tinted green with copper oxide to reduce the significant heating effect. The 19m high central nave is surrounded by a walkway at 9m height, allowing visitors a closer look upon the palm tree crowns. In front of the Palm House on the east side are the Queen’s Beasts, ten statues of animals bearing shields. They are Portland stone replicas of originals done by James Woodford and were placed here in 1958.

Princess of Wales Conservatory

Kew’s third major conservatory, the Princess of Wales Conservatory, designed by architect Gordon Wilson, was opened in 1987 by Diana, Princess of Wales in commemoration of her predecessor Augusta’s associations with Kew. In 1989 the conservatory received the Europa Nostra award for conservation. The conservatory houses ten computer-controlled micro-climatic zones, with the bulk of the greenhouse volume composed of Dry Tropics and Wet Tropics plants. Significant numbers of orchids, water lilies, cacti, lithops, carnivorous plants and bromeliads are housed in the various zones. The cactus collection also extends outside the conservatory where some hardier species can be found.

The conservatory has an area of 4499 square metres. As it is designed to minimise the amount of energy taken to run it, the cooler zones are grouped around the outside and the more tropical zones are in the central area where heat is conserved. The glass roof extends down to the ground, giving the conservatory a distinctive appearance and helping to maximise the use of the sun’s energy.

During the construction of the conservatory a time capsule was buried. It contains the seeds of basic crops and endangered plant species and key publications on conservation.

Rhizotron

A rhizotron opened at the same time as the “treetop walkway”, giving visitors the opportunity to investigate what happens beneath the ground where trees grow. The rhizotron is essentially a single gallery containing a set of large bronze abstract castings which contain LCD screens that carry repeating loops of information about the life of trees.

Temperate House

The Temperate House, currently closed for restoration, is a greenhouse that has twice the floor area of the Palm House and is the world’s largest surviving Victorian glass structure. When in use it contained plants and trees from all the temperate regions of the world. It was commissioned in 1859 and designed by architect Decimus Burton and ironfounder Richard Turner. Covering 4880 square metres, it rises to a height of 19 metres. Intended to accommodate Kew’s expanding collection of hardy and temperate plants, it took 40 years to construct, during which time costs soared.

There is a viewing gallery in the central section from which visitors were able to look down on that part of the collection.

Waterlily House

The Waterlily House is the hottest and most humid of the houses at Kew and contains a large pond with varieties of water lily, surrounded by a display of economically important heat-loving plants. It closes during the winter months.

It was built to house the Victoria amazonica, the largest of the Nymphaeaceae family of water lilies. This plant was originally transported to Kew in phials of clean water and arrived in February 1849, after several prior attempts to transport seeds and roots had failed. Although various other members of the Nymphaeaceae family grew well, the house did not suit the Victoria, purportedly because of a poor ventilation system, and this specimen was moved to another, smaller, house.

The ironwork for this project was provided by Richard Turner and the initial construction was completed in 1852. The heat for the house was initially obtained by running a flue from the nearby Palm House but it was later equipped with its own boiler.

Ornamental buildings

In the south-east corner of Kew Gardens stands the Great Pagoda (by Sir William Chambers), erected in 1762, from a design in imitation of the Chinese Ta. The lowest of the ten octagonal storeys is 49 feet (15 m) in diameter. From the base to the highest point is 163 feet (50 m).

Each storey finishes with a projecting roof, after the Chinese manner, originally covered with ceramic tiles and adorned with large dragons; a story is still propagated that they were made of gold and were reputedly sold by George IV to settle his debts.In fact the dragons were made of wood painted gold, and simply rotted away with the ravages of time. The walls of the building are composed of brick. The staircase, 253 steps, is in the centre of the building. The Pagoda was closed to the public for many years, but was reopened for the summer months of 2006 and is now open permanently. During the Second World War holes were cut in each floor to allow for drop-testing of model bombs.

Built for the Japan-British Exhibition (1910) and moved to Kew in 1911, the Chokushi-Mon (“Imperial Envoy’s Gateway”) is a four-fifths scale replica of the karamon (gateway) of the Nishi Hongan-ji temple in Kyoto. It lies about 140 m west of the Pagoda and is surrounded by a reconstruction of a traditional Japanese garden.

Following the Japan 2001 festival, Kew acquired a Japanese wooden house called a minka. It was originally erected in around 1900 in a suburb of Okazaki. Japanese craftsmen reassembled the framework and British builders who had worked on the Globe Theatre added the mud wall panels.

Work on the house started on 7 May 2001 and, when the framework was completed on 21 May, a Japanese ceremony was held to mark what was considered an auspicious occasion. Work on the building of the house was completed in November 2001 but the internal artefacts were not all in place until 2006.

The Minka house is located within the bamboo collection in the west central part of the gardens.

Within the conservation area is a cottage that was given to Queen Charlotte as a wedding present on her marriage to George III. It has been restored by Historic Royal Palaces and is separately administered by them.

It is open to the public on weekends and bank holidays during the summer.

Kew Palace

Kew Palace is the smallest of the British royal palaces. It was built by Samuel Fortrey, a Dutch merchant in around 1631. It was later purchased by George III. The construction method is known as Flemish bond and involves laying the bricks with long and short sides alternating. This and the gabled front give the construction a Dutch appearance.

To the rear of the building is the “Queen’s Garden” which includes a collection of plants believed to have medicinal qualities. Only plants that were extant in England by the 17th century are grown in the garden.

The building underwent significant restoration before being reopened to the public in 2006.

It is administered separately from Kew Gardens, by Historic Royal Palaces.

In front of the palace is a sundial, which was given to Kew Gardens in 1959 to commemorate a royal visit. It was sculpted by Martin Holden and is based on an earlier sculpture by Thomas Tompion, a celebrated 17th century clockmaker.

Galleries and museum

Shirley Sherwood Gallery

The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanic Art opened in April 2008, and holds paintings from Kew’s and Dr Shirley Sherwood’s collections, many of which had never been displayed to the public before. It features paintings by artists such as Georg D. Ehret, the Bauer brothers, Pierre-Joseph Redouté and Walter Hood Fitch. The paintings and drawings are cycled on a six-monthly basis. The gallery is linked to the Marianne North Gallery (see above).

Near the Palm House is a building known as “Museum No. 1” (even though it is the only museum on the site), which was designed by Decimus Burton and opened in 1857. Housing Kew’s economic botany collections including tools, ornaments, clothing, food and medicines, its aim was to illustrate human dependence on plants. The building was refurbished in 1998. The upper two floors are now an education centre and the ground floor houses the “Plants+People” exhibition which highlights the variety of plants and the ways that people use them.

Admission to the galleries and museum is free after paying admission to the gardens. The International Garden Photographer of the Year Exhibition is an annual event with an indoor display of entries during the summer months.

The Marianne North Gallery was built in the 1880s to house the paintings of Marianne North, an MP’s daughter who travelled alone to North and South America, South Africa and many parts of Asia, at a time when women rarely did so, to paint plants. The gallery has 832 of her paintings. The paintings were left to Kew by the artist and a condition of the bequest is that the layout of the paintings in the gallery may not be altered.

The gallery had suffered considerable structural degradation since its creation and during a period from 2008 to 2009 major restoration and refurbishment took place. During the time the gallery was closed the opportunity was also taken to restore the paintings to their original condition. The gallery reopened in October 2009.

The gallery originally opened in 1882 and is the only permanent exhibition in Great Britain dedicated to the work of one woman.

Plant collections

The plant collections include the Aquatic Garden, which is near the Jodrell laboratory. The Aquatic Garden, which celebrated its centenary in 2009, provides conditions for aquatic and marginal plants. The large central pool holds a selection of summer-flowering water lilies and the corner pools contain plants such as reed mace, bulrushes, phragmites and smaller floating aquatic species.

The Arboretum, which covers over half of the total area of the site, contains over 14,000 trees of many thousands of varieties. The Bonsai Collection is housed in a dedicated greenhouse near the Jodrell laboratory. The Cacti Collection is housed in and around the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The Carnivorous Plant collection is housed in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The Grass Garden was created on its current site in the early 1980s to display ornamental and economic grasses; it was redesigned and replanted between 1994 and 1997. It is currently undergoing a further redesign and planting. Over 580 species of grasses are displayed.

The Herbaceous Grounds (Order Beds) were devised in the late 1860s by Sir Joseph Hooker, then director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, so that botany students could learn to recognise plants and experience at first hand the diversity of the plant kingdom. The collection is organised into family groups. Its name arose because plant families were known as natural orders in the 19th century. Over the main path is a rose pergola built in 1959 to mark the bicentennial of the Gardens. It supports climber and rambling roses selected for the length and profusion of flowering.

The Orchid Collection is housed in two climate zones within the Princess of Wales Conservatory. To maintain an interesting display the plants are changed regularly so that those on view are generally flowering. The Rock Garden, originally built of limestone in 1882, is now constructed of Sussex sandstone from West Hoathly, Sussex. The rock garden is divided into six geographic regions: Europe, Mediterranean and Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Asia, North America, and South America. There are currently 2,480 different “accessions” growing in the garden.

The Rose Garden, based upon original designs by William Nesfield, is behind the Palm House, and was replanted between 2009 and 2010 using the original design from 1848. It is intended as an ornamental display rather than a collection of a particularly large number of varieties. Other collections and specialist areas include the rhododendron dell, the azalea garden, the bamboo garden, the juniper collection, the berberis dell, the lilac garden, the magnolia collection, and the fern collection.

Virginia Woolf published her short story “Kew Gardens” in 1921, which gives brief descriptions of four groups of people as they pass by a flowerbed

India : The Amber Palace and Maota Gardens, Elephants Take you up this Jewel In The Crown of Jaipur

Amer Palace (also spelled and pronounced as Amber) is located in Amer (a town with an area of 4 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi), 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Jaipur, Rajasthan state, India. It is the principal tourist attractions in the Jaipur area, located high on a hill. Amer Fort was built by Raja Man Singh I. Amer Fort is known for its artistic style of Hindu elements. With its large ramparts, series of gates and cobbled paths, the fort overlooks the Maota Lake, at its forefront.

The aesthetic ambiance of the palace is seen within its walls on a four level layout plan (each with a courtyard) in a well turned out opulent palace complex built with red sandstone and marble consisting of the Diwan-e-Aam or the “Hall of Public Audience”, the Diwan-e-Khas or the “Hall of Private Audience”, the Sheesh Mahal (mirror palace) or Jai Mandir, and the Sukh Niwas where a cool climate is artificially created by winds that blow over the water cascade within the palace. Hence, the Amer Fort is also popularly known as the Amer Palace. The palace was lived in by the Rajput Maharajas and their families. At the entrance to the palace near the fort’s Ganesh Gate, there is also a temple dedicated to Sila Devi, a goddess of the Chaitanya cult which was given to Raja Man Singh when he had defeated the Raja of Jessore, Bengal in 1604. (Jessore is now in Bangladesh).

This palace along with Jaigarh Fort, located immediately above on the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles) of the same Aravalli range of hills, is considered as one complex, as the two are well connected by a subterranean passage. This passage was meant as an escape route in times of war for the royal family members and others in the Amer Fort to shift to the more redoubtable Jaigarh Fort.

Annual tourist visitation to the Amer Palace in Amer town was reported by the Superintendent of Department of Archaeology and Museums to the Amer Palace as 5000 visitors a day, and 1.4 million visitors were reported during 2007.

Earlier to the Kachwahas, Amer was a small place built by Meenas in the town they consecrated to Amba, the Mother Goddess, whom they knew as `Gatta Rani’ or `Queen of the Pass’. The Amer Fort, as it stands now, was built over the remnants of this earlier structure during the reign of Raja Man Singh, the Kacchwaha King of Amber. The structure was fully expanded by his descendant, Jai Singh I. Even later, Amer Fort underwent improvements and additions by successive rulers over the next 150 years, until the Kachwahas shifted their capital to Jaipur during the time of Sawai Jai Singh II, in 1727.

Many of the ancient structures of the medieval period of the Meenas have been either destroyed or replaced. However, the 16th century impressive edifice of the Amer Fort and the palace complex within it built by the Rajput Maharajas are very well preserved.

Take over of Amber Fort by Kachwahas According to Todthis region was known as Khogong. The Meena King Raja Ralun Singh also known as Alan Singh Chanda of Khogong kind-heartedly adopted a stranded Rajput mother and her child who sought refuge in his realm. Later, the Meena king sent the child, Dhola Rae, to Delhi to represent the Meena kingdom. The Rajput, in gratitude for these favours, returned with Rajput conspirers and massacred the weaponless Meenas on Diwali while performings rituals i.e. Pitra Trapan, it is customery in the Meenas to be weaponless at the time of PitraTrapan, “filling the reservoirs in which the Meenas bathed with their dead bodies” [Tod.II.281] and thus conquered Khogong.This act of Kachwaha Rajputs was termed as most coward and shameful in history of Rajasthan.

The first Rajput structure was started by Raja Kakil Dev when Amber became his capital in 1036 on the site of present day Jaigarh Fort of Rajasthan. Much of Amber’s current buildings were started or expanded during the reign of Raja Man Singh I in the 1600s. Among the chief building is the Diwan-i-Khas in Amber Palace of Rajasthan and the elaborately paited Ganesh Poll built by the Mirza Raja Jai Singh I.

The current Amer Palace, was created in the late 16th century, as a larger palace to the already existing home of the rulers. The older palace, known as Kadimi Mahal ( persian for ancient) is known to be the oldest surviving palace in India. This ancient palace sits in the valley behind the Amer Palace. Amer was known in the medieval period as Dhundar (meaning attributed to a sacrificial mount in the western frontiers) and ruled by the Kachwahas from the 11th century onwards – between 1037 and 1727 AD, till the capital was moved from Amer to Jaipur. The history of Amer is indelibly linked to these rulers as they founded their empire at Amer.

Earlier to the Kachwahas, Amer was a small place built by [Meenas] in the town they consecrated to Amba, the Mother Goddess, whom they knew as `Gatta Rani’ or `Queen of the Pass’. The Amer Fort, as it stands now, was built over the remnants of this earlier structure during the reign of Raja Man Singh, the Kacchwaha King of Amber. The structure was fully expanded by his descendant, Jai Singh I. Even later, Amer Fort underwent improvements and additions by successive rulers over the next 150 years, until the Kachwahas shifted their capital to Jaipur during the time of Sawai Jai Singh II, in 1727.

Many of the ancient structures of the medieval period of the Meenas have been either destroyed or replaced. However, the 16th century impressive edifice of the Amer Fort and the palace complex within it built by the Rajput Maharajas are very well preserved.

Garden

The garden, located between the Jai Mandir on the east and the Sukh Niwas on the west, both built on high platforms in the third courtyard, was built by Mirza Raja Jai Singh (1623–68). It is patterned on the lines of the Chahar Bagh or Mughal Garden. It is in sunken bed, shaped in a hexagonal design. It is laid out with narrow channels lined with marble around a star shape pool with a fountain at the centre. Water for the garden is led from the Sukh Niwas cascades of water channel and also from the cascade channels called the “chini khana niches” that originate from terrace of the Jai Mandir.

Hidden London : Hampstead, The Soap King’s Secret Hill Garden & The Largest Pergola in England

Now part of Hampstead Heath , this site was formerly part of the gardens of Hill House. The original house was built in 1807 and in the C19th was owned by the Quaker banking family of Hoare until 1896 when Sir Samuel Hoare sold the property to George Fisher, partner in a successful firm of auctioneers. Fisher rebuilt the house and moved here with his family. Set in 5 acres of parkland and gardens, there were apparently ponies for the children and a goat-chaise. A blue plaque was erected to Fisher’s son Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, statistician and geneticist, who lived here as a child until 1904. The house and its gardens were then successively modified by the philanthropist and soap manufacturer William Hesketh Lever. Lever, who was created Baron in 1917 and in 1922 became Viscount Leverhulme, owned the property from 1904 until his death in 1925. He renamed the house The Hill and the additions he made to it included north and south wings to the garden front in c.1905 designed by architects Grayson and Ould, who also designed a terrace along the garden front to which Thomas Mawson (1861-1933) added an Ionic Verandah in c.1910. Other additions to the house included a library wing (1913/14), a ballroom beneath the terrace (1923) and extension of the south wing (1924/5), the latter by Mawson with T H Mawson & Sons.

The gardens were laid out for Lever in 3 phases, the first scheme following his purchase of Hill House in 1904, a second scheme following purchase of Heath Lodge to the north-west in 1911, and a third after he purchased another property, Cedar Lawn to the south, in 1914. During WWI Cedar Lawn was used as a hospital and subsequently as a maternity hospital. The first two garden schemes were designed by Thomas Mawson who had previously worked for Lever in Lancashire. The early C19th gardens of Hill House had been laid out on sloping ground to the west of the house and consisted of a large lawn with scattered trees, boundary shrubs and walks, with a double shrubbery on the west side and probably kitchen gardens between; one walk led onto Hampstead Heath. Mawson levelled the site into terraces, with terrace gardens in front of the house, a level lawn and a Pergola created around the west and south sides of the garden in 1906. Between the Pergola and south-west boundary were kitchen gardens. After purchasing Heath Lodge in 1911 Lever demolished the house in order to extend his gardens. The Pergola was continued across a bridge over the public road that separated the two properties and led to a circular Garden Temple; a further stretch of the Pergola led to a Belvedere at the western end, which overlooked Hampstead Heath and the former gardens of Heath Lodge. A Pergola Temple replaced a conservatory on the west of the original Pergola; service buildings were erected to the east of the new land and the 2-acre garden was incorporated into Lever’s gardens. In 1922 Lever demolished Cedar Lawn and again extended the Pergola and gardens.

After Lord Leverhulme’s death in 1925 The Hill property was acquired in 1926 by shipowner Andrew Weir, first Baron Inverforth, who left it on his death in 1955 to Manor House Hospital, when it was renamed Inverforth House in his memory. The property was divided in 1960 when the LCC purchased the western part of the site and the north-western part of the Pergola, which with the gardens were restored and opened to the public in 1963, renamed The Hill Garden. The southern part of the Pergola was publicly access in 1971 but later closed as unsafe. In 1991 the Hospital offered their part of the Pergola to the Corporation of London, who had taken over ownership of the north-western part of The Hill Garden in 1989 after the abolition of the GLC in 1986. In 1995 the Corporation restored the Pergola and laid out further formal gardens to the west on the site of the former kitchen gardens and glasshouses. These have a formal arrangement of trees, large planted pots, and a geometric arrangement of beds planted with herbaceous plants and shrubs, herbs and ornamental vegetable. Inverforth House and its gardens (q.v.) was sold to developers in the 1990s for private residences. There are excellent views towards the house and over Hampstead Heath.

Hidden London : Severndroog Castle, a memory of India and a place I walk my dog daily

Severndroog Castle is a folly situated in Oxleas Wood, on Shooter’s Hill in south-east London in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was designed by architect Richard Jupp, with the first stone laid on 2 April 1784.

It was built to commemorate Commodore Sir William James who, in April 1755, attacked and destroyed the island fortress of Suvarnadurg (then rendered in English: Severndroog) of the Maratha Empire on the western coast of India, between Mumbai and Goa. James died in 1783 and the castle was built as a memorial to him by his widow, Lady James of Eltham.

Designated a Grade II* listed building in 1954,the Gothic-style castle is 63 feet (19 m) high and triangular in section, with a hexagonal turret at each corner. From its elevated position, it offers views across London, with features in seven different counties visible on a clear day.

In 1797, the tower was used by General William Roy in his trigonometric survey linking England and France; a 36-inch theodolite (now in London’s Science Museum) was installed on its summit. In 1848, the Royal Engineers used the castle for their survey of London.

Following Lady James’ death in 1798, the building passed through the hands of various landowners, including John Blades, a former Sheriff of London, a Mr Barlow (ship owner) who built nearby Castle Wood House, and Thomas Jackson (a railway and docks contractor of Eltham Park). In 1922, the tower was purchased by London County Council and it became a local visitor attraction with a ground-floor tearoom serving drinks and cakes. In 1986, when the GLC was abolished, responsibility for Severndroog passed to Greenwich Council.

Restoration

In 1988, the local council could no longer afford the building’s upkeep and it was boarded up. In 2002, a community group, the Severndroog Castle Building Preservation Trust, was established. In 2004, it featured in the BBC TV series Restoration (presented by Griff Rhys Jones, Ptolemy Dean and Marianne Suhr, producer-director Paul Coueslant) – with the aim of gaining support for a programme of work to restore the building and open it to the public.

In July 2013 work began on renovating the castle, funded by a £595,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant, and it was officially reopened to the public on 20 July 2014.

The Green Chain Walk and Capital Ring long distance paths go through Eltham Common and Castle Wood and past the castle between Shooter’s Hill and Eltham.

Hidden London : Christchurch Greyfriars Garden, Dick Whittington and Christopher Wren were former residents

Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden:

The garden is on the site of the Franciscan Church of Greyfriars, which was established in 1225, following the arrival from Italy in 1224 of 9 monks of the Franciscan order, called Greyfriars from the colour of their clothing. Four of the Greyfriars came to London, the remainder went to Canterbury. They first had a temporary establishment in Cornhill; as their influence grew, a mercer called John Ewin then bought them a piece of land in the parish of St Nicholas Shambles and various buildings were erected, one Lord Mayor of London building them a choir, another the body of a church. In 1306 a larger church was commenced, with support from Edward I’s second wife Margaret and other influential benefactors, the second largest medieval church in the City. Richard Whittington, Lord Mayor, founded a library here in 1429. Numerous well-known people were buried in the old church, including four Queens being Margaret, wife of Edward I (d.1317), Isabel, wife of Edward II (d.1358), Joan of the Tower, wife of Edward Bruce King of Scotland and Isabel, one time Queen of the Isle of Man.

After the Dissolution the church was used to house spoils taken from the French, but in 1546 Henry VIII gave the various buildings of the Priory, together with the parish churches of St Ewin in Newgate Market and St Nicholas in the Shambles and part of that of St Sepulchre, to the Mayor and Corporation of London, to be formed into one parish of ‘Christ’s Church within Newgate, founded by Henry VIII ‘on condition that the Corporation provided a vicar and five priests, one to attend the prisoners at Newgate when required. In 1552 Christ’s Hospital was founded to the north, inhabiting a number of the Greyfriars’ buildings and using the church as its chapel; the school buildings were demolished in 1902 when the school moved out of London. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 and rebuilding of a new church designed by Wren commenced in 1687, completed in 1704. At that time the parish of St Leonard Foster Lane, burnt down but not rebuilt, was added to the parish of Christ Church. Wren’s church was smaller than the church it replaced, the remainder of the site to the west enclosed as the burial ground now a public garden called Newgate Street Garden (q.v.).

The body of the Wren church was gutted in 1940 and only the west tower now stands. It was decided not to rebuild the church although the steeple was restored by Lord Mottistone in 1960, with urns added to replace those removed in the C19th. The east wall of the church was demolished when the Corporation of London acquired the church site in 1963 for road widening in the 1960s. A rose garden was laid out in 1989 which copies the floor plan of the church. Rose beds and surrounding box hedge outline the nave of Wren’s church, with ten wooden towers in the beds representing the pillars that held up the roof. The garden has pergolas, seating and box-hedged beds, which represent the original position of the pews.

Hidden London : Peckham Rye and Sexby Gardens a Little Oasis

Lakes and Foul

Pergola

Touchs of the Victorian Past

Stunning Dragonfly Bench

Specimen Trees

Rivers and rivulets

Central Fountain is one of many water features

Mark and Stella under the Pergola

Colour and Fragrance

Plantsmans delight

York Paving winds through the beds and borders

Beautiful Day Lillies

Acanthus

Peckham Rye is an open space and road in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England. The roughly triangular open space, managed by Southwark Council, consists of two congruent areas, with Peckham Rye Common to the north and Peckham Rye Park to the south. The road Peckham Rye forms the western and eastern perimeter of the open space. Peckham Rye is also Cockney rhyming slang for tie (necktie).

History

It was on the Rye in the 1760s that the artist William Blake claimed to have seen visions, including one of “a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars. ” The novel The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark is based around this area. The park in the 50’s – 70s was the site for a yearly fair.

The land for Peckham Rye Park was purchased by the London County Council for £51,000 and declared open on 14 May 1894. At that time the park was 54 acres (220,000 m²), 13 acres being occupied by Homestall Farm. One of the first features of the new park, an ornamental ‘Old English Garden’ was created. It was later renamed the ‘Sexby Garden’ after Colonel J.J.Sexby the London County Council’s first Chief Officer of Parks. It was re-developed in 1936 and the paths re-laid with york stone paving.

During World War II, part of the Common became a Prisoner of War camp for Italian prisoners of war.

Today the Park and the Peckham Rye Common provide 113 acres of open space for the public to enjoy.

In 1995 the Friends of Peckham Rye Park was formed. They held their inaugural meeting on the 10th July at Waverley Lower School. The Park was falling into disrepair and neglect. Vandalism (the blight of today’s society) had caused a lot of destruction and other problems, such as flooding of the streams, was taking its toll. It was felt that an action group was needed to stop the Park decaying further. It is one of the most beautiful parks in South London.

A campaign was launched to bid for money from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the Park to its former glory. This was successful and the works were started in 2004 and completed in 2005.

The Friends are an important group who care about the Park and the Common. All issues from vandalism to football to the building of the new café for the Park are discussed by the Friends. Ideas and potential problems can then be brought to the attention of the relevant Councillors from Southwark and appropriate action taken.

The restoration of the Park

The greatest achievement of the Friends to date is the restoration of the Park to its former Victorian splendour. FOPRP were responsible for launching the campaign to bid for money from the Heritage Lottery Fund for this restoration, which took many years of hard work but with the help of Southwark Council, the money was granted and the campaign was successful.

The restoration works started in 2004 and were completed in 2005. The works were commissioned and supervised by Chris Blandford Associates and carried out by Waterers Landscape Associates.

The works included:

Drainage of the lake – which involved the removal of all the accumulated silt, rubbish and debris that had collected over the years and made the lake so polluted and dirty. The terrapins and any fish were collected and rehomed.

Clearing the streams and other ponds in the park

Removing all the dead trees and shrubs and replacing with new. This includes the re-creation of the former Elm avenue (see history page)

The total restoration of the Sexby Gardens – one of the largest projects.

Re-building of the bowls pavilion.

Resurfacing of all the paths.

Repair and renewal of all the railings both around and in the Park

New pillars to the main entrance

Installation of a new drainage system to prevent flooding

Various other projects such as repair or rebuilding of bridges, pergolas, water features, rockeries etc.

The restored Park is a joy to the community and a source of civic pride.

One of the terms of the grant from the HLF was that the London Borough of Southwark commit to a 10 year programme of maintenance. This should mean that the works and infrastructure will be maintained to the current standard and it is one of the things that FOPRP members can keep their eye on.

Green Flag status

The Park achieved Green Flag status in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.