KENSINGTON GARDENERS' CLUB
kensingtongardeners@googlemail.com phone / text 07973 832672 or 07957 640816
|
MEMBERSHIP £10 per calendar year |
|
|
PROGRAMME
of EVENTS 2012
|
|
|
Saturday
21st January - Club meeting Saturday
11th February - Club meeting Saturday
10th March - Club meeting
|
|
 |
NEXT GARDEN VISIT Saturday
28th April - Garden visit This
is a Grade I landscape garden, laid out in the early 18th century.
The formal garden was influenced by French 17th century architects,
such as Le Notre, and is based on the classic patte d'oie (goose foot)
design. A large wooded area has rhododendrons, bluebells and more
unusual woodland plants in plenty. The estate belongs to the Bowes
Lyon family and one of them will welcome us with an introductory talk. |
 |
Saturday
26th May - Garden visit
|
|
Friday
22nd / Saturday 23rd June
|
|
 |
Wednesday
11th July - Club meeting Guided tour of The Charterhouse by one of the resident brothers. The site was a burial ground for plague victims from 1349-71, when a Carthusian Monastery was founded, and the still existing two-storey dwellings round a large cloister and a church were built. In 1535, the monastery was dissolved and by 1545 a Tudor mansion had been built, sold in 1611 to Thomas Sutton, who founded Charterhouse School (now in Surrey) and a hospital (still extant). www.thecharterhouse.org |
 |
Monday
6th / Tuesday 7th August - Garden visit |
 |
ROUSHAM is the purest example of an Augustan landscape garden, designed by William Kent on a framework made by Charles Bridgeman in the 1720s. One's first Roman encounter is with statues recalling the Imperial games: a lion mauls a horse and a gladiator dies with restrained agony. A path leads into the woods and the Venus Vale, with statues of Pan, a faun, and Venus, from whom Caesar claimed descent. A sweetly serpentine rill flows in a stone channel from the Cold Bath into the Venus Vale. In another glade, a Temple overlooks the River Cherwell. The terrace overlooking the river is named the Praeneste after the ancient temple complex in the modern town of Palestrina outside Rome. (www.gardenvisit.com) |
 |
KIFTSGATE COURT is a nineteenth-century house with a twentieth -century Arts & Crafts garden set on the escarpment that brings the Cotswold hills down to the Vale of Evesham. It was made by Heather Muir with much help from Major Johnston of Hidcote. A woodland garden steps down the hillside to a half-moon swimming pool. Many features are typical of the Arts & Crafts period: herbaceous borders, a four square garden, a white garden, a yellow border, a rockery, lawns, a bluebell wood and, of course, roses. The Kiftsgate Water Garden, called the New Garden, has a bronze leaf sculpture by Simon Allison. The water garden was designed by the owners (Anne and Johnny Chambers). The inspiration for stepping stones was from Geoffrey Jellicoe's stepping stones at Sutton Place. The composition of the New Garden is abstract modern. (www.gardenvisit.com) |
 |
HIDCOTE is a famous Arts & Crafts garden, made c1905. It is the archetypal garden laid out as a series of rooms. Lawrence Johnston, its creator, was a keen plantsman with a strong sense of artistic composition. Yew, holly and beech hedges are used to define a series of garden rooms. One room is occupied only by a circular raised pool. Others have a character deriving from their inspired planting. The standard of building craftsmanship is high and the number of plants which have the name 'Hidcote' point to Johnston's expertise. Were it nearer London, the garden would be as famous as Sissinghurst. (www.gardenvisit.com) |
 |
PETTIFERS offers an interesting conrast to the other gardens we will visit. Planting is in huge drifts rather than in rooms; grasses are used to enhance the "drifting" effect. An article in the Guardian captures its impact. 'If a successful garden is one with a surprise or two, then Pettifers certainly fits the bill. Looking from the house, the view is of lawns and flowerbeds that seamlessly give on to open countryside. It's a perfect example of a "borrowed landscape", where there is no apparent boundary between the property and the outside world. Not only is this unexpected as you walk through the gate from the village road, but it makes the garden seem much larger than its one and a half acres. But the best is yet to come. The rectangular plot slopes away from the house in a series of terraces, explaining why you cannot see the boundary. The separate levels lend themselves to the creation of different areas of interest. However, nothing prepares you for the sight of this parterre from the lawn. As surprises go, it's a good one.' |
 |
Saturday
22nd September - Garden visit This is a wonderful 90-acre historic landscape and French-style mansion, very recently restored, where one can stroll in the recently restored Italian and Rose Gardens and reinstated historic pathways with garden buildings, pavilion and statues. The house can be visited and there are special exhibitions in the hall. It is managed by English Heritage. |
| Saturday
6th October - Club meeting Venue : Kensington Central Library Lecture Theatre Time : 2.00 p.m. for a 2.30 start Cost : Free to members Competition PRIZE GIVING followed by Garden Quiz |
|
| Saturday
10th November October - Club meeting Venue : Kensington Central Library Lecture Theatre Time : 2.00 p.m. for a 2.30 start Cost : Free to members Speaker : To be announced |
|