Saturday, September 10, 2005

Edwardian Gardens

Two gardens with different fates. The first has gone. The second is a major film location.

The lost garden at Campsea Ashe


The lost garden at Campsea Ashe

The garden featured long stretches of water, avenues of elms, limes and horse chestnuts, cedar trees, an elliptical bowling green and the Great Hedge. This yew hedge was over 600 metres long, 3 metres thick and 2-8 metres high.

Haddon Hall, Derbyshire


Haddon Hall, Derbyshire

By the early 1900s the gardens were hoplessly overgrown and a massive clearance was required. Yew trees and herbaceous borders were planted and the ivy stripped from the balustrades to be replaced by climbing roses.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Victorian mourning

Something light for the weekend:

MOURNING, ETIQUETTE OF. The various degrees of relationship which the living bear to the dead, regulate the depth of the mourning worn, and the length of time that it is to be retained. Mourning for a husband in the widow's cap and crape is usually extended over twelve months, and after that period the wearer may either adopt a half mourning, or put by mourning altogether, without appearing singular or wanting in feeling. In cases of this kind, the wearing of mourning beyond the prescribed interval depends, as a matter of course, greatly upon sentiment, the degree of affection which subsisted between the parties, the length of time which the marriage existed, &c.

More at The Victorian Etiquette of Mourning

Monday, September 05, 2005

Indian Ocean

Two fantastic but very different islands in the Indian Ocean:

Madagascar: Great Leaping Lemurs!

Mauritius

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Gardening - Victorian Pear Tree Cultivation

Victorian Pear Tree Cultivation

The pear requires a good, naturally rich, loamy soil, not however enriched by artificial means, as that would only have the effect of producing a luxuriance of growth that would require much skill and labour to overcome.