Michael Portillo in his 12th series of Greatest Railway Journeys is highlighting the developments in Britain Between the Wars over 15 episodes. This week starting 26th April 2021 has seen 1/15 Oxford to Abingdon, 2/15 Stoke Mandeville to Beaconsfield and 3/15 West Ruislip to Windsor on the BBC2 channel. A number of areas have...Read More
In Stephen Switzer’s Practical Husbandman and Planter (1733), he recommends wide paths between beds for ease of access and as we can see from this quote, weeder woman and boys to pick off and destroy snails and slugs every morning! Who does the weeding in your household and that of your family, neighbours and friends?...Read More
MAUD GRIEVE Self-published by the author claire@decarle.plus.com ISBN 978-1-911133-21-6 To order your copy email the author: claire@decarle.plus.com £12.00 including postage & packing The Whins in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire is where Maud Grieve and her husband lived from about 1908 and is where she established her Medicinal Plant Nursery and Training School during the First...Read More
2021 marks the 80th Anniversary of the death of Maud Grieve The inspirational herbalist, writer, teacher and gardener ‘Now let me tell you about that wonderful plant’* Maud Grieve was born in London in 1858. She spent her early married life in India, and on their return at the end of the 19th century the...Read More
Margery Fish (1892–1969) Plantswoman and garden writer ‘Margery Fish, virtually single-handedly, was responsible for the renewed popularity of the ‘cottage garden’ style of planting in the second half of the twentieth century’ (Catherine Horwood). Margery Fish (née Townsend) has a very tenuous link with Buckinghamshire: although she probably visited her family in Chalfont St Peter...Read More
Valerie Finnis (1924–2006) Photographer, lecturer and gardener Although Valerie Finnis did not live in Buckinghamshire, the Bucks Garden Trust has much to be indebted to her for. The Finnis Scott Foundation makes grants to horticultural and art history projects and was established in accordance with the will of Lady Montague Douglas Scott (Valerie Finnis) in...Read More
Nineteenth Century Brick Kilns to be restored at Great Linford. The Parks Trust are about to begin a restoration project on two Brick Kilns located at Great Linford, by the Grand Union Canal. Brick making had been a local industry in Milton Keynes for hundreds of years. The site where the kilns can be...Read More
The Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust Award an Honorary Family Life membership to Michael Harrison, Estate Manager of Wotton House. The Buckingham Gardens Trust is pleased to announce that Michael Harrison, Estate Manager at Wotton House, Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire, home of Mr and Mrs David Gladstone, has been awarded – with his wife Sarah – Honorary...Read More
Wotton House, Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire Home of Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust’s patron David Gladstone. In 1989 I was fortunate to meet Christopher Lamb, an architect who had worked with Donald Insall’s practice on the restoration of Wotton House under the guidance of the indefatigable Mrs Elaine Brunner who, in 1957, had purchased the main...Read More
Brilliant News! Campbell Park, Milton Keynes recognised as one of the finest post-war parks in the country Registered Grade II listed by Historic England as a Park of Special Interest. Very good news, many thanks. It will help keep Campbell Park and the other elements of Milton Keynes landscape (the labyrinth of freedom) secure for...Read More
