underground stations: Vauxhall, Lambeth North, Westminster
and Waterloo. It is on various local bus routes.
Open: Sunday – Friday 10.30am – 5pm. Saturday: 10.30am –
4pm. Closed first Monday each month.
Admission: £6 adults, £5 seniors, £3 Art Fund members,
children under 16 free, also full time students and carers of
disabled people.
Telephone: 020 7401 8865
Website: www.gardenmuseum.org
Royal Hospital Gardens, Chelsea
If you’ve ever been among the crowds at Chelsea Flower
Show, you may like to wander around the grounds when
they are quiet and serene. The gardens of the Royal Hospital,
home of the Chelsea Pensioners, are listed as a Historic Park
Grade II and were once the famous (sometimes infamous)
Ranelagh Gardens.
The knot garden in the old churchyard at the Garden Museum next to
Lambeth Palace
Only one side of the park is used for the flower show. There
are over a mile of walkways among handsome trees, shrubs
Re-opened in 2008 after a major renovation and formerly
and grass. A summerhouse by Sir John Soane near the
known as the Museum of Garden History, it is a vibrant place
entrance will tell you much about the history of the site and
with an extensive programme of exhibitions, events such as
has a map of the garden indicating the most important trees.
plant fairs, lectures by well known names in the horticultural
The Ranelagh pleasure grounds were laid out in the formal
world, and a permanent collection giving vital information
style, with a large rotunda, now demolished. In Victorian
on garden history.
times, after its heyday was over, the gardens were redesigned
On 26th February the actress and keen gardener Penelope
and then between the wars became allotments. Now they are
Keith will be in discussion with Alan Titchmarsh, and on 28th
back to their nineteenth century glory.
February the Potato and Produce Fair will feature Pennards
Plants, from Somerset.
On 1st April a major exhibition opens on the life and work of
Christopher Lloyd, the gardening guru who died in 2006, and
his garden at Great Dixter in Sussex which is now managed
by a charitable trust.
Outside in the churchyard, the plant collection has informative
labels telling the dates of introduction to this country. The
great seventeenth century gardeners to aristocracy and royalty,
the Tradescants, are buried there and a knot garden designed
by the Countess of Salisbury commemorates them with their
initials worked into the design.
The church was redundant and in danger of demolition in the
early 1970s when its importance was realised and a campaign
began to save it. The Prince of Wales and Lady Salisbury
Without the crowds: the garden of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea
became patrons – one of her family’s ancestors employed John
Tradescant as a gardener at Hatfield House, the family seat.
You can also visit parts of the Royal Hospital built in 1682 to
provide a home for old soldiers, with architecture by Wren,
Since its make-over, the museum is a much more
and additions by Vanbrugh, Soane and Adam.
comfortable place to visit, and has been hailed as one of the
best small museums in London. The Garden Café is open for
Location: Royal Hospital gardens, Royal Hospital Road,
snacks and light meals daily, and the garden is an oasis in the
London SW3 4SR. Nearest rail station: Victoria. Nearest
heart of the capital. The shop reflects the influence of the
underground: Sloane Square.
museum and has a variety of gifts, books, bulbs and tools. Open: daily, except Sunday mornings, Easter and Christmas.
Location: The Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road,
The Great Hall and the Chapel also open. Gift shop.
London SE1 7LB.
Refreshments in National Army Museum next door.
The nearest mainline station is Waterloo, but other stations
Admission: Free
not far away include Victoria and Vauxhall. Nearest Telephone: 020 7881 5200


 
 
 

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Country Gardener
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