TEN minutes’ walk from Sloane Square Underground station, verdant respite awaits. Founded in 1673, the Chelsea Physic Garden feels like a secluded sanctuary in the middle of Zone 1, a serene enclave hidden within London’s chaos. Now bounded by, yet discreetly hidden from, the thoroughfares of Royal Hospital Road and Chelsea Embankment, it is the country’s second oldest Botanic Garden—Oxford pips it to the post by 52 years.
The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London leased the plot from Charles Cheyne (of Walk fame), 1st Viscount Newhaven and owner of Chelsea Manor, then part of Middle- sex. The location was chosen not only for its fertile, south-facing land, but because it was directly on the north bank of the Thames, giving the Apothecaries—forerunners to today’s pharmacists—a place to moor the barge they used for ‘herborising’ expeditions: scout- ing the surrounding meadows for medicinal plants to bring back, grow and study.
The Apothecaries established their Hortus Medicus, as the Garden was then known, as an outdoor classroom to school their apprentices in what we now call herbalism or phytotherapy, teaching them which plants could heal and which could harm. After all, as deputy director Frances Sampayo cautions when she begins a tour of the grounds, ‘garden is an anagram of danger. In the right dosage, plants can either cure you or kill you’. A skull-and-crossbones sign planted next to a bed of poisonous specimens reinforces her point, although another reminds us that plants have developed poison to protect themselves—they can’t run away from their predators as animals can.
Denne historien er fra September 06, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 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.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
