LIVE24SEVEN // Property & Interiors G A RDENING – WI T H C AMI L L A B A S S E T T - SMI T H


Through The Garden Gate


As autumn is well underway, we sent our media horticulturalist, Camilla Bassett-Smith, back to her roots…


It’s over 20 years since my departure, but here I am treading once again the 310 foot long Marble Corridor and turfed lawns of The Cheltenham Ladies’ College.


This Cotswolds establishment is a beacon of education, where girls have gathered since 1853 to benefit from five star learning and a hearty dose of etiquette. Might I suggest that we leave the desks and compasses behind us for a moment though (do they still have compasses?) and swing open the doors onto the horticultural delights that sit alongside this sensational school.


Taking us back to grass roots, botany is at the heart here with the daisy taking pride of place as the school emblem. Chosen to signify being open to God’s grace, the petals which close at night and open in the morning, have now come to represent the opening of the girls’ minds to education and learning. I spotted an aster or two in the grounds and I’m sure that many a pupil has successfully woven a daisy chain or two while sipping on bottled milk at break. I well remember summer mornings, particularly Thursdays, with iced bun in hand enjoying the inhalation of fresh grass clippings and the warmth of knowledge, anticipation and shared friendships as we sat on the lawns in our throngs. (That was throngs I repeat, please remember where you are!)


The main garden is bordered on one side by the famous Marble Corridor and the building’s Virginia creeper clad walls form a backdrop as classically beautiful as the mind could imagine. Russet red at this time of year and clinging to every stone, united in its mission to protect those it engulfs inside. Green fingered may not


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Camilla Bassett-Smith


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