The Topiary Garden at Friar Park, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire The home of Mrs Olivia Harrison
FRIAR PARK is a Gothic fantasy on the chalk downs just above Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. It was famous 100 years ago as the most eccentric and extravagant new garden in England. Today, it is no less famous as the place that the former Beatle George Harrison, with his wife, Olivia, loved and restored.
Friar Park has an interesting history. The original house was built in the 1870s, then enlarged in the 1890s. Harrison's own description was spot on: 'Victorian Gothic Revival, mixed with a French château... really incredible. The same is true of the gardens, which were laid out by a rich and eccentric lawyer, Sir Frank Crisp, between 1889 and his death 30 years later. Crisp's creations included a vast alpine rock garden that covered four acres, topped by a scale model of the Matterhorn, as well as a series of stalactites, caves, grottos and underground passages populated by a multitude of garden gnomes. COUNTRY LIFE was impressed and, over the years, published several laudatory articles about the garden.
Denne historien er fra December 06, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra December 06, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
