Hampton Court
Flower Show 2002
| Our
third day, Wednesday, was a visit to Waddesdon Manor.
Waddesdon is huge and imposing.
Exactly what the Rothschild family wanted and very sure to
impress. We enjoyed the
visit here very much because the landscape is so impressive, then
you see the inside and are blown away with the opulence.
The crowns that you see was on either side of the driveway
and this was done for the 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Look at them closely…they are alive and every 15 minutes a
mist fall down around them. When
I was here last year, the gardens were totally different than this
visit…wonderful to see that kind of massive change…and I think
not at all garish.
I
went to the rose garden this time – it was wonderful, lavender and
roses and I was the only one sitting there.
I also walked down to the stables this time…are they not
incredible! They house a
restaurant now and look at that bronze horse.
Of course Bacchus was in the wine cellar and this time I got
a picture of the cellars themselves…an incredible place to visit
and of course pick up wine to take home to the person looking after
the site while I am out touring!
This
Renaissance-style chateau is set within a magnificent garden and was
created by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the 1870s for his house
parties. The unique collection of French 18th-century objects
includes gold boxes, buttons, cabinets, carpetsand two complete Sèvres
services. There are major English portraits, as well as paintings
from Guardi to Bakst. The new Drawings Rooms show designs from
Paris
.
The landscaped gardens are famous for their fine views, specimen
trees, rococo revival aviary and
parterre with striking displays of seasonal bulbs and carpet
bedding. The wine cellars contain thousands of bottles of vintage
Rothschild wines. Since 1996 Waddesdon has won many awards for its
immaculate restoration.
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| Chenies
impressed me so much last year and didn’t disappoint this year
either. The House is of
great historical and architectural interest; Henry VIII and
Elizabeth I with their Courts were entertained here. It is
surrounded by several beautiful gardens; a white garden, a sunken
garden and an extensive Physic garden containing a major collection
of plants used in present-day medicine as well as fragrant and
culinary herbs. Other features are: a medieval well, underground
passages, a reconstructed penitential maze and a reputed 'Priest's
Hole'. The House contains contemporary furniture and tapestries and
there are beautiful flower arrangements throughout. Interesting
exhibitions are held in the new shop building, recently constructed
in order to protect the 13th century crypt. Here, too, there is a
flower-drying loft; flowers are grown in a special section of the
garden for this purpose and are used for the superb dried flower
arrangements displayed in the house.
I have some other information on this beautiful garden in my
previous tours…it really has quite the history behind it…read it
if you can! Did you see
the ornate chimneys on the house?
The chimneys were styled at
Hampton
Court
Palace
after these ones.
It is said that when Henry VIII came here, he stayed in the
room with the thick black edging around the window, which was
unusual in itself, but he has such ulcers on his legs that he could
not go up stairs to a more secure and private room.
I noticed that there is also a picture of the garden (with
white bench) with nothing but sky behind it…kind of looks like the
garden is at the edge of the world, but the land slopes past this
garden and the big trees kind of blend in with it to give you this
illusion. And look at
those poppies against that grass.
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