Down House
LOCAL LIFE There was too much of interest to attend to on a monthly basis. It’s a theory Rowan heartedly endorses …
*Down House, Luxted Road, Downe, Kent, BR6 7JT (English Heritage) www. english-heritage.org.uk/ Darwin; Tel: 01689 859119. Opening times vary.
Exotica thrives amid the snow
photo: English Heritage/Rowan Blaik
Rowan Blaik
O
ver at Emmetts Garden, Ide Hill, Simon Walker was busy organising his band of National Trust volunteers for a session of pruning as the sun made a rare March appearance over this 100 acres of woodland trees and shrubs, of which a mere four acres are formal gardens. Its transformation from a cattle farm to the current scene-stealing site was down to banker Frederic Lubbock’s passion for plants and his love for his Edwardian estate which he bought in 1890. This, and the influence of his great friend William Robinson whose ‘wild garden’ approach ran parallel to the simplicity of the Arts and Crafts Movement, saw the blending of the formal flower beds with the rambling beauty of the surrounding Greensand Ridge. His decision to buy the estate may also have been sparked by his elder brother John, a great friend of none other than Charles Darwin who lived close to his High Elms estate in Farnborough. He was also a world expert on ants. And the name emmett is a dialect word for ant, with giant anthills once covering the area. The estate’s magnificent rhododendrons, their buds at bursting point – ‘ they don’t care about the weather, they’ll flower when they want’ said Simon – are a lively indication of the many exotic and rare trees and shrubs collected from across the globe. ‘ They were the bling of their time,” observed Simon.
Emmetts
Simon Walker
flower in greenhouses stocked with the same plant specimens that Darwin cultivated. Buoyed up by research showing that spring has actually been warming up over 60 years and kicking in earlier, I forgave this year’s vagaries – especially as the frost loving snowdrops at Down House have flourished like mad. The daffodils, too, held back and bursting with moisture filled foliage – unlike like last spring with a hose ban threatened – seemed anxious to provide a fine show of seasonal colour. Darwin never worried about winter snow and frosts which were far more ferocious in his days. APRIL 2013 23