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Cultivating knowledge
In 1944 Winterbourne’s grounds became the University’s Botanic Gardens and were used to provide plant material for teaching in the Botany department. Produce from the vegetable garden was used in the kitchen of University House. Initially the gardens were also used to provide decorative plant material for Great Hall. Natural order beds were planted in the…
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‘Housekeeping ain’t no joke’ pt 2 – The Spring Clean – Recipes and regimes
Last month we looked at the origins of the great Spring Clean and the invention of the domestic vacuum cleaner. This piece of kit undoubtedly made life much easier, and homes much cleaner, as it evolved throughout the 20th century to the lightweight, dust-busting wands we use today. However, the Spring Clean has always been…
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‘Housekeeping ain’t no joke’ part 1 – The Spring Clean and Vacuum origins
Outside spring has definitely sprung, with the daffodils nodding their dazzling heads and the trees producing buds hinting of splendour yet to come. However, indoors things are afoot too, as houses across the land begin the age old spring clean. The tradition of a ‘spring clean’ dates back millennia and is often linked to religious…
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Now and Then: August
When Margaret Nettlefold planned the garden at Winterbourne, daughter Valerie revealed that her mother ‘lived with gardening books for a year or so’. Here, the influence of Gertrude Jekyll is inescapable. Winterbourne is filled with Jekyllian detail inspired by her 1899 classic Wood and Garden. Each month, we follow in Margaret’s footsteps to see how the…
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Now and Then: July
When Margaret Nettlefold planned the garden at Winterbourne, daughter Valerie revealed that her mother ‘lived with gardening books for a year or so’. Here, the influence of Gertrude Jekyll is inescapable. Winterbourne is filled with Jekyllian detail inspired by her 1899 classic Wood and Garden. Each month, we follow in Margaret’s footsteps to see how the…