| | |
 | Rural attractions of London: Chelsea has horticultural associat ,ons that began long before the great annual flower show came to the grounds of the Royal Hospital. In the eighteenth century Sir William Davy's nursery was one of three close to the King's Road, and today this private garden on the Cadogan estate stands on part of Davy's land. A few yards from the bustle of Sloane square, it is a glorious example of what can be achieved with a little effort in a town garden in spite Of furnes and dust. Essentially planted for colour in spring and containing many Japanese trees and shrubs, the' garden also thrives in other seasons. More than 200 lbs of honey was harvested from a single beehive here during a recent summer.  click to open  |  | Rural attractions of London: Epping Forest, though some way from the Square Mile, is in the care of the City of London. Epping, once a royal hunting ground stretching into Essex, started to be enclosed by local farmers in the last century. This loss of land and the growing number of trees being lopped for firewood producing today's pollarded beeches-gave rise to concern, and an Act of Parliament in 1878 granted the forest to the City of London. The 6,000 acres, declared an open space for 'the enjoyment of my people forever' by Queen Victoria, have many species of trees: hornbeams are especially plentiful. A lake, ponds, bridle paths and great clumps of trees make it, and Hampstead Heath, welcome green spaces in the sprawling capital. The Heath was preserved in perpetuity for the public at about the same time as Epping, when building threatened to encroach on its 800 acres. click to open |  | Rural attractions of London: Hampstead Heath, though some way from the Square Mile, is in the care of the City of London. Epping, once a royal hunting ground stretching into Essex, started to be enclosed by local farmers in the last century. This loss of land and the growing number of trees being lopped for firewood producing today's pollarded beeches-gave rise to concern, and an Act of Parliament in 1878 granted the forest to the City of London. The 6,000 acres, declared an open space for 'the enjoyment of my people forever' by Queen Victoria, have many species of trees: hornbeams are especially plentiful. A lake, ponds, bridle paths and great clumps of trees make it, and Hampstead Heath, welcome green spaces in the sprawling capital. The Heath was preserved in perpetuity for the public at about the same time as Epping, when building threatened to encroach on its 800 acres. click to open |  | Rural attractions of London: The Physic Garden at Chelsea was not the first botanical garden in London but no earlier one now survives. Many rare plants and seeds from here have been dispatched around the world. Those sent in 1732 to James Oglethorpe, a colonist in Georgia, helped to establish America's cotton industry. The rock-garden was made with old stones from the Tower of London and lava rock brought back from Iceland by Sir Joseph Banks, who also contributed plants collected on his voyage with Captain Cook. click to open |  | Rural attractions of London: Trees and shrubs from Japan have been planted to spectacular effect in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Great cedars and specimens of Cupressus obtusa rise in clusters amid the 288 acres. Kew is, of course, a scientific research centre whose single, most important contribution to the Empire occurred when Henry A. Wickham, a resident in Brazil, was asked to return post- haste with as many seeds of Hevea brasiliensis as he could bring. He bowled up to Kew in a hansom cab in June 1876 with 70,000, which were immediately sown. Two months later, about 1,900 seedlings were dispatched to Ceylon, and from these the great rubber industry of the Far East grew. click to open |  | Rural attractions of London: A seventeenth-century garden, which the Marchioness of Salisbury helped to plant in the 1980s, thrives in the churchyard of St Mary-at-Lambeth, and a museum devoted to garden history is being assembled in the church. Many of the flowers, trees and shrubs, such as honeysuckle and a Judas tree, were introduced to England and propagated by the Tradescant family, gardeners to James L, Charles 1 and Robert Cecil, the first Earl of Salisbury. They travelled widely to collect botanical specimens; John, the father, brought fruit trees from Holland and Flanders, gladiolus byzantinus and the African marigold from Spain and North Africa, and angelica and the Siberian larch from Russia. His son, also John, went on three expeditions to North America, returning with columbines, a tulip tree and Virginia creeper. click to open |  | Rural attractions of London: The strict regulations that applied in St James's Park did not prevent undesirable ruffians from frequenting it. In 1712, Dean Swift complained he had to come home early 'to avoid the Mohocks', rowdy Young men who contemporaries were led to believe were named after cannibals in India'! Standards of behaviour improved in the nineteenth century when it was suggested that park benches be installed and soldiers admitted. Queen Victoria look a personal interest in any such changes and once, when she heard the railings on Birdcage Walk had been moved without consulting her, she rebuked the official responsible. The proposal to allow, boating on the lake was, fortunately for the ducks and geese, not adopted. click to open |  | Rural attractions of London: The cottage ornee designed by the now forgotten architect, John Burges Watson, in the tradition of Nash's rustic villas, was placed on Duck Island in St James's Park by the Ornithological Society of London in 1840. It is curiously incongruous to find such a rural retreat immediately opposite the mighty Foreign and Commonweath Office. On the site formerly was the Decoy where John Evelyn once saw a one-legged crane that had been fitted with a wooden leg. Duck Island and the Decoy were created at the east end of the Long Water in 1662, but only the island survived 'Capability' Brown's alterations in 1770. Nash, too, retained the island when he reshaped the lake, giving it an uneven outline. All year, waterfowl -over forty different species- inhabit the lake and Duck Island. click to open |  | Natural attractions of London: St James's Park, one of London's 'lungs', is a park for all seasons. In spring, blossom and bulbs give it colour; in summer, bright plants contrast with many shades of green. Several rare Chinese trees with dark glossy leaves and a mass of while flowers in early autumn, add, in places, an Oriental flavour. Some trees planted soon after the Restoration still stand. Queen Anne's master gardener, Henry Wise, in a bid to discourage riff-raff, persuaded her to introduce regulations in the park: no one could walk on the grass or wear clogs; the wildfowl were not to be disturbed; no trading was allowed (commercial vehicles are banned even today from The Mall); and housewives were forbidden to lay out their linen to dry. click to open |
| | |
|
|
 |
|
|
p1