REGULAR visitors to Bloomsbury may have noticed a particularly fine pair of wrought-iron gates set between 20 and 21, Montague Street, WC1. Emblazoned with the Duke of Bedford’s crest (he owns much of the land around these parts) and topped with some gloriously exuberant gilded lilies, they mark the entrance to Montague Street Gardens —although little can be seen of the oasis within. That all changes later this month, when the gardens, together with more than 100 other private and hidden spaces, will open for London Square Open Gardens Weekend, a rare opportunity to explore some of the capital’s secret Edens.
The open weekend dates back to 1999 and the opening of a handful of private residents’ squares. Under the aegis of the London Historic Parks & Gardens Trust—more commonly known as the London Gardens Trust (LGT) —it has grown into one of the capital’s bestloved events, attracting crowds in their thousands. A single ticket gives you access to as many gardens as you can physically manage in a day—community allotments, wildlife havens, rooftop plots, contemporary gardens and more. ‘There’s something for everyone,’ says Nathan Oley, chair of the event and a trustee of the LGT. ‘We have passionate amateur growers raising tomatoes in tins and rice bags, alongside gardens of real horticultural excellence, such as Mona’s Garden in Highgate, N10, which is home to [the National Plant Collection of] corokias.’
Denne historien er fra June 01, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 01, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prÞveperiode pÄ Magzter GOLD for Ä fÄ tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766â68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artistâs first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
