Category Archives: Uncategorized

Papendieck and Hullmandel might sound like an obscure German plant nursery  or perhaps a Victorian music hall double act but they were actually the people behind a collection of colour images of the royal gardens at Kew  in the final … Continue reading →

Prospect Cottage stands on the spit of shingle that is Dungeness on the Kent coast, the most south easterly corner of England, sometimes known as the fifth quarter of the globe, a phrase which evocatively describes the uniqueness of this … Continue reading →

Last week’s post looked at the gardens created by Sir Francis Bacon before he managed to climb the greasy pole of political advancement. This week I’m going to look at the gardens, theoretical and real, that he designed once he’d … Continue reading →

“Loveliest of Trees,  the Cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide…” Housman’s haunting poem, part of his Shropshire Lad collection written in 1896, is one of the nation’s … Continue reading →