Part of the Abbey ruins at Walsingham, Norfolk; at the end of an eight mile charity ‘walk with a fork’event.
Category: Historic landscapes
Cattle on the hill near Walsingham Abbey, Norfolk, taken on a recent charity ‘Walk with a Fork’ event.
Picture by Loving Dartmoor
Our trip north to Coimbra in Portugal meant that apart from looking into that ancient capital, we could stop off at a few places to and from it. I’ve already shared my experiences of the roman capital, Conimbriga, which we toured on our way back to Lisbon. But we also had time to visit the equally interesting town of Tomar, further south in the area of the Beiras.
After finding our way through the crowded streets to a convenient car park, we made the ascent to the ancient Convento Cristo- one more World Heritage Site, closely associated with the Knights Templar (of crusade fame, or is it infamy?) as well as the Jesuits who also made this place their HQ a few hundred years later. This was an impressive place, rugged and without much greenery apart from an impressive box parterre in one of the cloisters. Outside, its massive castle-like hulk looms over the town.
After our visit we headed back down for an afternoon tea and cake (as usual) and watched children chasing pigeons in the town square. We had a few minutes to spare before we needed to leave so we hunted down what the guide book described as a very interesting Synagogue. It turned out to be a delightful find- and also free to enter!
We were greeted by a young, chatty lady who was delighted to speak to us in English about this medieval place- the oldest in Portugal. She spoke of horrific tales of persecution her forbears suffered here- including two jews burned alive a few hundred years ago. She herself and an older volunteer also shared more recent tales of having to keep their religion secret; once more for fear of persecution. But today the synagogue is one of the area’s most attractive places to visit, all run on good will, donations and loans, including an impressive piece of religious furniture from London. They were keen for us to sign their visitors book and we could see that many more people, of many different nationalities, had visited that day.
They were obviously proud of their heritage and we were privileged to share it with them.
As you may have picked up, I’ve been in Portugal again recently. As well as visiting some old favourites, we ventured north to the old capital of the country, Coimbra (more on this in later posts), and on our way back to Lisbon stopped off at a wonderful historical site called Conimbriga. This site, a few miles south of Coimbra, was the Romans’ capital while they were here in Portugal, some two millenia ago.
OK, I know that this blog is supposed to be about gardens and gardening. But I occasionally feature something that is only loosely connected (if at all), just to add a bit of variety. And in truth, there is a link to gardening here, as you’ll see later.
This extensive site displays the bones of an important Roman settlement and includes some sensitive reconstruction to help you get the scale and proportions of the place- the recreation of the Forum is particularly impressive.
The space of the ancient Forum recreated on site..
A model of how the Forum might have really looked
And the other immediately remarkable thing is the wealth of mosaic floors on show, some open to the air, others carefully protected under a large sheltering canopy.
But the really noteworthy feature- well I think so- is the re-creation of the Fountain Gardens, including (for 50 cents a go) the chance to see the way the fountains might have embellished this calm, sheltered space set amid the bustle of the wider settlement.
The Fountain Garden…
Complete with Fountains…
A plan and description of the garden and the huge villa it was housed within
A modern day take on water gardens
After touring the open site, it was something of a relief (from the sun) to get inside the nearby Museum, which helps add further interpretation to the site and houses a range of beautiful artefacts discovered here.
Old School Gardener
Working out at Holland Park, London
Old School Gardener
We were staying with our daughter and her boyfriend in London. It was Fathers’ Day and a special day out was planned, incorporating a trip to Holland Park, a quick visit to St. John’s Wood Church Gardens (where we discovered the grave of John Sell Cotman, a well-known watercolourist of the Norwich School and a favourite artist of mine) and a vintage car event nearby. The weather was kind and the day was brilliant.
I really enjoyed Holland Park, which Wikipedia describes:
‘Holland Park is about 22 hectares (54 acres) in area and is considered one of the most romantic and peaceful parks of West London. The northern half or so of the park is semi-wild woodland, the central section around the ruins of Holland House is more formal with several garden areas, and the southernmost section is used for sport.
Holland House is now a fragmentary ruin, having been devastated by incendiary bombing in 1940, but the ruins and the grounds were bought by London County Council in 1952 from the last private owner, the 6th Earl of Ilchester. Today the remains of the house form a backdrop for the open air Holland Park Theatre, which is the home of opera Holland Park. The green-roofed commonwealth Institute lies to the south.
The park contains a cafe as well as the Belvedere Restaurant that is attached to the orangery, a giant chess set, a cricket pitch, tennis courts, two Japanese gardens – the Kyoto Garden (1991) and the Fukushima Memorial garden (2012), a youth hostel, one of London’s best equipped children’s playgrounds, squirrels and (impressively for a London park) peacocks. In 2010, the park set aside a section for pigs whose job was to reclaim the area from nettles etc., in order to create another meadow area for wild flowers and fauna. Cattle were used subsequently to similar good effect.
The new Holland Park Ecology Centre (2013), operated by the borough’s Ecology Service, offers environmental education programs including nature walks, talks, programs for schools and outdoor activity programs for children.’
I loved the scale and variety of the park which is broken up into separate gardens and spaces, each with its own character, and including a range of formal, semi formal and wild areas.
There is a delightful series of mural paintings on a wall beside a covered walkway, which captures the park in earlier days.
I especially enjoyed the Japanese gardens, which use a range of typical design features to great effect in a relatively small space; tumbling water cascades, clipped evergreens, Acers, rocks etc. I think I will try to use some of these in my own pond project here at Old School Garden; e.g the clever use of interlaced thick bamboo poles to form a semi permeable screen. However, it did seem rather open and lacking the sorts of intimate, small spaces associated with ‘quiet contemplation’. Maybe this is down to the relative youth of the gardens- we can expect some of the trees and other planting to fill out with time. It might also be a conscious design feature, bowing to the inevitable demands on such a space in a public park; the many feet and bodies that undoubtedly pass through it.
This Park is obviously well-loved and well looked after, a true community resource and one which serves an area much larger than its immediate posh neighbourhood in Kensington and Chelsea. Well worth a visit if you can.
Old School Gardener
After leaving Emmetts Garden on our way home from Sussex last week, we also stopped off to see a place that I’ve wanted to visit for a long time- Red House, in Bexleyheath, London. The house and garden designed by Philip Webb with fellow Arts and Crafts man William Morris, is a wonderful monument to all that exuberant artistic endeavour of the mid and later 19th centuries.We had a stimulating guided tour of this lovely house and garden that has been a major influence on English architecture and garden design.
Part reaction to the impact of industrialisation, part a response to its social consequences, William Morris and the movement- which had close ties to the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood and early socialist thinkers- have perhaps become most closely associated with floral prints in wallpaper and fabric. I hold my hands up- we are definite fans and have some Morris designs in the Old School.
The garden here rather plays second fiddle to the house, which was meant to be ‘something medieval’ and does conjour up images of courtly love, knights in armour and Arthurian legend…
But the garden sets off this fabulous building very neatly and today also boasts a kitchen garden. The original design was as unique as the house, with Morris insisting on integration of the design of both. The garden was divided into four, small square gardens by trellises on which roses grew. The flower beds were bordered with lavender and rosemary while lilies and sunflowers had also been planted in the garden. White jasmine, roses, honeysuckle and passion flower were planted to climb up the walls of the house.
Further information:
National Trust website
Wikipedia
Old School Gardener
The chalk cliffs at Rottingdean, recently.
On our way home from Sussex last week, we manged to call in on two other National Trust properties. The first was Emmetts Garden, near Sevenoaks, Kent.
Though situated in a commanding hillside location, the garden is tucked away a bit, but we eventually found it after some tortuous lanes and slippery hill climbs! Our stay was short,but the garden didn’t disappoint- masses of spring interest, including a very attractive rockery with plenty of alpines on display. The Rhododendrons, Azaleas and Bluebells were also looking superb in the bright sunshine.
Wikipedia describes the gardens:
‘Emmetts Garden was open farmland until 1860 when the present house was built. The name ’emmett’ is a local word for ant and refers to the giant anthills that covered the area until the 1950s. The house and land was purchased in 1890 by Frederic Lubbock, a banker and passionate plantsman. Lubbock’s elder brother was John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, coincidentally a world expert on ants, which may have influenced his decision to purchase the property.
The gardens were initially laid out between 1893 and 1895 under the influence of Lubbock’s friend William Robinson in the fashionable Edwardian style popularised by Gertrude Jekyll. The shrub garden was added later in 1900-1908.
After Lubbock’s death (1927), the estate was acquired by an American geologist Charles Watson Boise. He made various alterations to both house and garden but retained the original character of the gardens…
The garden, which covers an area of about six acres (approximately 2.5 hectares), occupies a commanding site on a 600-foot (180 m) sandstone ridge, overlooking the Weald. One of the highest points in Kent, it offers expansive views towards the North Downs.
It is mainly planted with trees and shrubs in the form of an arboretum; a magnificent 100-foot (30 m) Wellingtonia fortunately survived the Great Storm. There is also a rose garden located next to the Victorian house to which the gardens once belonged.’
Old School Garden 