Historic gardens open (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)
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Historic gardens open
11:02am Friday 20th May 2005 in Search
ALMOST 3,000 people flocked to Chiswick House last weekend to see the historic kitchen gardens opened to the public for the first time, writes Karen Leibreich .
The kitchen gardens situated behind the Camellia House date back to the 1683, and were used to stock the Burlingtons' pantry.
The garden was used as Hounslow Council's plant nursery until the mid-1980s.
Since then part of the area has been used to store bedding plants, while the rest gradually became overgrown. This January, however, local schoolchildren, under the guidance of volunteers from the Chiswick Horticultural Society, began clearing and planting vegetables. The open day was their first chance to show friends and parents what they had been doing.
Locals and many visitors from further afield admired the fine crop of multi-coloured lettuces, the emerging potatoes, beans, onions, fennel, herbs and other tasty produce.
Visitors seized the forks and spades that had been temptingly placed by a nasty patch of brambles and nettles and began to clear a new bed that will be used for pumpkins, sweet corn and tomatoes in a few weeks.
Beyond the vegetable beds, visitors entered an enchanted forest where volunteers had cleared a path with machetes only weeks earlier, to reveal a surviving mulberry tree.
Meanwhile, local Chiswick parents held an event to launch fund-raising for a wooden playground for under-fives that will reflect elements of Chiswick House. Entertainers such as Amanda's Action Kids, Amber's Fit Kids, Debutots and clowns from Boo Productions gave their time free to entertain young children on one of the sunniest days this May. A local businessman has already donated 10% of the £22,000 needed and the event will have raised several thousand more.
To contribute to the children's playground, contact Amy Barclay on chiswickhouseplayground@pobox.com. To find out more about the kitchen garden contact Karen Liebreich on kitchengarden@chsw4.org.
