I was in Kew Gardens yesterday, almost enjoying the heat of the Indian Summer that has suddenly arrived. I partook of refreshment (tea, egg and cress sandwiches and a bottle of Fentiman's Ginger Beer) under the rustling leaves of the carefully considered pergolas outside the Pavilion Restaurant. I could have been in a Paris park. Round the corner is Decimus Burton's Temperate House that was once the largest plant house in the world. It's still the biggest surviving Victorian glass structure anywhere. Started in 1859, the government allocated £10,000 but four years later the Treasury got cold feet and brought construction to a halt. It took another 35 years for it to be finally completed. I love glasshouses, and this one needs a helping hand because it's been another 35 years since the last restoration. Find out more here.
It's donkeys' since I've been to Kew and I keep meaning to make a weekend of it; one day rummaging in the National Archives and one day wafting around the glasshouses. You've inspired me to get my finger out.
You noted that Kew Garden's temperate house was once the largest plant house in the world. I am not sooooo excited by that, but I AM delighted that it is still the biggest surviving Victorian glass structure anywhere. It was so influential that I have had fun tracing the architectural impact on later buildings.
It is a very long time ago that I visited Kew, and I enjoyed it very well, as much for the architectural versus the horticultural experience. The only quibble I have is that the noise from nearby Heathrow is a crying shame! Much more sensible to move that wartime edifice to the Channel, and to give Kew goers and Londonders peace and quiet. My visit to the nether reaches of the British Isles did not allow for such an extended enjoyment of the Indian summer. It was almost like an Indian afternoon actually.
I am a designer, writer and photographer who spends all his time looking at England, particularly buildings and the countryside. But I have a leaning towards the slightly odd and neglected, the unsung elements that make England such an interesting place to live in. I am the author and photographer of over 25 books, in particular Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2006), More from Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2007), Cross Country (Wiley 2011), The Cigarette Papers (Frances Lincoln 2012), Preposterous Erections (Frances Lincoln 2012) and English Allsorts (Adelphi 2015)
"Open this book with reverence. It is a hymn to England". Clive Aslet
Preposterous Erections
"Enchanting...delightful". The Bookseller "Cheekily named" We Love This Book
The Cigarette Papers
"Unexpectedly pleasing and engrossing...beautifully illustrated". The Bookseller
Cross Country
"Until the happy advent of Peter Ashley's Cross Country it has, ironically, been foreigners who have been best at celebrating Englishness". Christina Hardyment / The Independent
More from Unmitigated England
"Give this book to someone you know- if not everyone you know." Simon Heffer, Country Life. "When it comes to spotting the small but telling details of Englishness, Peter Ashley has no equal." Michael Prodger, Sunday Telegraph
I was in Kew Gardens yesterday, almost enjoying the heat of the Indian Summer that has suddenly arrived. I partook of refreshment (tea, egg and cress sandwiches and a bottle of Fentiman's Ginger Beer) under the rustling leaves of the carefully considered pergolas outside the Pavilion Restaurant. I could have been in a Paris park. Round the corner is Decimus Burton's Temperate House that was once the largest plant house in the world. It's still the biggest surviving Victorian glass structure anywhere. Started in 1859, the government allocated £10,000 but four years later the Treasury got cold feet and brought construction to a halt. It took another 35 years for it to be finally completed. I love glasshouses, and this one needs a helping hand because it's been another 35 years since the last restoration. Find out more here.
5 comments:
Lovely photographs. They remind me that I must revisit Kew and admire the glasshouses - and the plants - and consider the pergolas, carefully...
Flying into Heathrow from Germany, I often see these and the whole of Kew Gardens from the air - it's a great view.
It's donkeys' since I've been to Kew and I keep meaning to make a weekend of it; one day rummaging in the National Archives and one day wafting around the glasshouses. You've inspired me to get my finger out.
You noted that Kew Garden's temperate house was once the largest plant house in the world. I am not sooooo excited by that, but I AM delighted that it is still the biggest surviving Victorian glass structure anywhere. It was so influential that I have had fun tracing the architectural impact on later buildings.
It is a very long time ago that I visited Kew, and I enjoyed it very well, as much for the architectural versus the horticultural experience. The only quibble I have is that the noise from nearby Heathrow is a crying shame! Much more sensible to move that wartime edifice to the Channel, and to give Kew goers and Londonders peace and quiet. My visit to the nether reaches of the British Isles did not allow for such an extended enjoyment of the Indian summer. It was almost like an Indian afternoon actually.
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