This week was Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust long-awaited visit to Bledlow Manor home of the Carrington family. We were delighted that Rupert, the present Lord Carrington was able to give us an introductory talk before he had to dash off to a debate via zoom in the House of Lords. We were then able to wander...Read More
A tale of three swimming pools! I recently enjoyed a day out visiting private gardens and churches courtesy of ‘The Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust’ all the gardens were in the area around Winslow and the Claydons. The three gardens that I decided to visit amazingly all had swimming pools that were no longer in use...Read More
John Nash and the Dovecote Over the last year, we have all developed an increasing appreciation of our open spaces ranging from public parks, designed landscapes or rural countryside. They are places where we have enjoyed the beauty of nature, found comfort away from these difficult times and exercised our minds and our bodies. A...Read More
St Dunstan’s Park, Monks Risborough Monks Risborough sits beneath the Whiteleaf Cross and the Icknield Way at the foot of the Chilterns. The land here has always been predominantly arable with meadows and woodland and, being at the bottom of the escarpment, it is close to the spring line and a small stream runs through...Read More
John Nash and the Dovecote Over the last year, we have all developed an increasing appreciation of our open spaces ranging from public parks, designed landscapes or rural countryside. They are places where we have enjoyed the beauty of nature, found comfort away from these difficult times and exercised our minds and our bodies....Read More
‘Unforgettable Gardens’ ‘The Elysian Fields’ at Stowe – a personal view If I think of the designed landscape at Stowe, the Elysian Fields come directly to mind. They seem to me to embody the essence of this vast landscape. The huge landscape at Stowe began, not surprisingly, with the long axis which was laid out...Read More
The conservationist and historian Dr Sarah Rutherford who has researched the reconstruction of a 19th-century landscape at Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk, said: “Using an Ordnance Survey map from 1904, we have been able to research details of how the landscape looked when it was at its peak. We’ve also used RAF aerial photographs from 1946 which...Read More
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
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
