A garden for the community

The walled garden in the local park is on the site that dates back to the late 18th century when it was probably used to grow fruit for the Big House that now contains the council lending library.

In 1903 the ownership of the house and parkland was passed to the city council and used as a nursery and training ground for the council's gardeners.

Enclosed by the 18th century wall in an area that once incorporated the stable block, the garden today provides a welcome public space in an urban environment.  As well as quiet seating areas with herbaceous borders, arbours and a rose garden, there's a wild life area, two ponds and a space for greenhouses and beds for local communities to propagate plants and grow flowers, fruit and vegetables.  

We're able to grow our own fruit and vegetables in an allotment and it's the time of the year when we're able to enjoy the produce.  However, it's good to see a community garden which is of benefit to many folk, supported by the council who also continue to use it for horticultural training and work placement.

Ninfa: the medieval ruins

'The past is ever present at Ninfa and the medieval walls still

 define the character of the gardens.'

 Charles Quest-Ritson, writer.                                                                                  

Ninfa was sacked by mercenaries in 1381 and the aristocratic Caetani family retreated to the hilltop town which overlooks it.  It was never restored and the ruined buildings were left to crumble and become covered in brambles and ivy until the 1920s.  Prince Gelasio Caetani was inspired to clear the land, survey and make good the remains of the buildings and begin the structural process of creating a garden among the ruins.  Later generations continued with its development in what is a unique and beautiful setting.                                                                  

the ruins of the church of San Biagio surrounded by banana trees

                                                                          

San Biagio ruins and the lavender walk

                                                               

                                                               Santa Maria Maggiore (fresco)                                                                   

The Palace and Caetani tower

The wavy carving on the entrance to the lake represents the Caetani coat of arms whilst the eagle represents the Dell'Aquila family whose families became united through marriage.

Gelasio's summerhouse.Many writers and artists have visited Ninfa and have used the summer house as a place of creativity.

Haddon Hall - The Fountain Terrace: lilies

Last week I spent the day with a friend at Haddon Hall near Bakewell in Derbyshire looking around the house and gardens.  The Manners family have owned Haddon since 1567 although there has been a building on the site since Norman times.

Entries in the Haddon account book in 1582 suggests that a famous Elizabethan architect, Robert Smythson designed the house and gardens featuring stone balustrades and steps and a lower lawn.  In the 17th century several terraced areas were laid out which was a typical arrangement for a late Renaissance garden inspired by Italian hill-top villa designs.

The second terrace

The Fountain Terrace

The south side of Haddon Hall.  The Long Gallery overlooks
the Fountain Terrace

Two years ago a renowned garden designer, Arne Maynard, began a new planting scheme in the herbaceous borders on the Fountain Terrace and plants that would have been seen in an Elizabethan garden have been used.  Climbing roses, clematis and lilies as well as other flowers bloom in abundance from mid-June.  

                                     Here are some of the beautiful lilies in the garden.
                           

A generous gift

In the little village of Stoke Row in Oxfordshire there's a rather exotic-looking structure for an English rural area.  This is the Maharajah's Well and the story of its origin and construction is very interesting.

Before 1842 the villagers had to walk several kilometres to fetch and carry water by hand as the village had no well.  At that time the son of a local landowner, Edward Reade, was living in India and had formed a friendship with the Maharajah of Benares. Mr Reade, an engineer and local governor had been involved in digging a well in one of the Indian Prince's villages.  He told the Maharajah that in times of drought water deprivation was also experienced in his home area in the Chiltern Hills.

Some years later the Maharajah decided to give the village a gift and he paid for a well to be sunk,

a well-keeper's house to be built and a cherry orchard planted which would eventually yield fruit to provide the income to maintain the well.

The digging of the well, which had to be very deep (twice the height of Nelson's Column) in order to get to the underground water source, was an incredible feat of engineering.  Only one man at a time could work in the confined space digging through a layer of clay and gravel, then further layers of chalk and sand as well as bricklaying the sides. In the meantime, the iron well-head superstructure, winding machinery and 9 gallon buckets were commissioned and made by a local foundry and, in due course, the well was completed and officially opened on Queen Victoria's birthday in 1864.

Normally the well provided 700 gallons of water a day although it took ten minutes to wind the bucket up from the bottom of the well. Going to the well to draw water must have been quite a social event and it served the community for 70 years until the village was connected to a piped water supply.

The superstructure is topped off by a bright gilded dome.  This incorporates a circle of glass lenses to allow the light through to show the water line.  Underneath is the winding gear with a decorative elephant on the top. The whole was painted in a mixture of Indian red and other bright colours.

The winding gear and buckets

Next to the well is the warden's cottage and the cherry orchard.  The cottage is octagonal in shape, single storeyed with a chimney stack in the centre of the roof and is now privately owned.

Stoke Row is on a well-known cycling route so the well garden is often used as a pleasant place to rest as is the local Cherry Tree Inn.

The roses of Ninfa Torrecchio Vecchia

The gardens at Ninfa are set in the ruins of a medieval town south of Rome. Wandering through them one feels far away from the busyness of modern life.  Time seems to stand still. The rich variety of plants that can be grown in the gardens is possible because of the role of the water supply of the river and lake on the estate. From these sources water channels and streams flow through the shady gardens to create Ninfa's spacious, natural style of design and planting. In Springtime there are flowering trees and in Summer roses cascade over ruined stone walls and towers.