Gardening history

We went here today. This is Stourhead in Wiltshire. Amazing house. Full to the brim with paintings and beautiful objects, but I have to admit that today we enjoyed the outside more. The children found less to fascinate them in the house than our last stately home visit. They wanted to hurry through the rooms so that they could be outside again.

Not that I was terribly disappointed as it gave me the excuse to spend time in the estate’s kitchen garden. A walled kitchen garden. I love kitchen gardens and allotments. I love seeing what is growing well and solutions that other gardeners have devised. Victorian gardeners seem to have been top of the class when inventive solutions were required.

For instance, this pond would have originally been used by the gardeners to fill their watering cans. The garden is on a slope and this was the final part of the chain of pipes and sumps which directed the water for use. Now it is a pond, but I can imagine the under gardeners treading carefully down those steps to fill their watering cans.

They also put a lot of effort into growing plants with exotic fruit. They had ingenious ways to grow and ripen fruit that would not naturally prosper in the UK such as peaches and ….

…kiwi. They had a row of fig trees. There was also a pineapple pit. Not sure if it is still in the garden, but I suspect that it might have been behind the gate with a closed sign on it. I’d love to see how they managed to grow pineapples.

These big estates have also kept other fruits growing when they have long since gone out of fashion and large demand. This garden had a quince tree which I love. Our tree sadly died and I so miss making quince jelly. They also had a medlar tree. If you haven’t encountered medlar before it is best avoided until it starts to decay. Before then it is hard and, apparently, acidic. Once it has been hit by the frost or started to decay in storage it can be made into jelly, jam or a fruit cheese. I’ve only ever seen it growing. I’d love to find someone with one of these in their back gardens, so I could have a go at making the jelly.

Solutions for storage are always interesting. I don’t need to protect grain, but if I did, this granary design would be on my list.

Usually granaries are up on staddle stones, like the one we saw at Arlington Court, but this is the first time I’ve seen arches. The idea is that the air circulates underneath to keep the grain dry. The ledges half way up the arches prevent rats and mice climbing up and the original wooden steps would have been pulled away from the building. I’m no rat expert, but it did surprise me that the ledge would stop them. I’m not sure the roof matches the arches. I would love a slightly smaller one of these in my garden. It would be such a useful store room for home grown produce.

Lots to look at like the 600- 700 year old sweet chestnut trees. Look carefully and you might see the faces.

So much to see.

TF loved this turnstile. He would let none of pass until we said “Please”. History and politeness all on the same day.