The River Lee Country Park is a maze of lakes, water courses, streams, inlets and marshland, created by the River Lee as it approaches the north eastern edge of London. The name Lee – also known as Lea, both spellings are used interchangeably – comes from the old English word
Now a National Trust property, the Morden Hall Park occupies the land, which in the middle ages belonged to Westminster Abbey, and, after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII,was acquired by the Garth family, the rich local landowners. The River Wandle meanders poetically through Morden Hall Park –
In late spring one corner of the huge Richmond Park harbours an oasis of exotic blooms, which is the Isobella Plantation. This woodland park was created in the 1830s, when former Prime Minister Lord Sidmouth, then the Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park, wooded off a boggy corner of the park
Going round stately homes on a fine holiday weekend you can come across Jousting – re-enactment of knights in colourful armour tackling each other on horseback. This has been a popular summer theatrical entertainment from 1970s. During Middle Ages jousting had a practical purpose – preparing knights (and their horses)
March is the month of Camellias. I have three blooming in my garden. Chiswick House has 32 in the conservatory alone – home to the oldest collection of camellias under cover in England. Camellias come from Eastern and Southern Asia. Botanist Karl Linnaeus, who classified all our plants, named it
In the beginning of 17th century the aristocratic Boyle family bought an estate in Chiswick with a large Jacobean house, as a summer retreat. It caught fire in 1725, and the head of the family, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, decided to build a new ‘villa’ in the grounds.
