Eltham Palace: 1930's Art Deco Palace & Gardens versus the Ancient (Part 2)

At the end of Part 1 of my Article I left you with a picture of a water lily with a fly in the sunken Rose Garden. Here is the entire formal pond in the sunken Rose Garden as well. The sunken Rose Garden was replanted in 1999 with Roses that were available when the Courtaulds were there in the 1930s.

Walking straight on from the sunken Rose Garden you go into what is called the "Garden Rooms." These are individual rooms of high clipped Holly, planted inside with Hellebores for the winter colour and lots of Hydrangeas and indeed other plants for the summer.

There are quite a lot of these rooms on each side of the main path.

They are not all the same and are in fact quite beautiful!

Like the herbaceous border, these must be very labour intensive with all that Holly and all the shrubs to trim.

Sitting on this wonderful seat was Heaven, all you could hear were the birds singing and the big carp jumping in the ponds and the moat, pure bliss!

They are a most peaceful place to walk through or indeed sit in.

There are many Hydrangeas.

The last of the rooms!

The Garden Rooms lead out to this; another formal pond and the start of the moat. This then goes round underneath the old bridge and becomes a small lake!

A bit closer to the pond.

A lovely weeping willow and a cherry as the moat sweeps round.

This one tree made all the walking and travelling worthwhile. What a gorgeous tree in a spectacular location; a weeping purple beech or Fagus sylavatica 'Purpurea Pendula'. Looking at the trees as the moat sweeps round.

The pond with its Danger Deep Water sign which refers to the water in the moat, not the pond. The moat going round to the pond!

Going round the corner from the purple Beech. The old Bridge can be seen in the distance.

This is from the end of the lawn, over that wall is a massive drop to the lake. The top of the Rockery can be seen on the left and the woodland walk on the right.

This is where the moat comes out under the bridge and then turns into a small lake. The bridge also happens to be London's oldest working bridge (1470)! The Rockery was built in the 1930's out of Westmorland limestone and is on the far bank. These pictures were taken from the Triangular Garden and the lawn.

Some of the Rockery. As Stephen Courtauld was into mountaineering, he liked things like this. At the top are a lot of flowering cherries.

Some more of the Rockery before it drops away to the end of the lake. At the very top of this and to the right is the East Garden. The Courtaulds had a swimming pool built there, which has now been filled in.

The Rockery at the end, before the lake stops!

The end of the lake. The start of a bit of woodland, if you follow this up and turn right it takes you into the herbaceous border.

One of the last bits after the lake and you go into the woodland area.

Of course you cannot have a moat and a lake without having very large carp. Here is a family feeding the fish and although I was very high up and a long way away you can just see a large carp in the water in the other picture.

This is where the woodland trail comes out if you follow it on the flat and turn right.

Some lovely trees at the top of the Rockery.

On the southern lawn looking out at the trees.

I knew that somewhere there had to be some blue cedars or Cedrus atlantica glauca and at last I found them. You could not have a Garden of this magnitude without them.

I leave you with the little plant stand outside the main door, all for sale of course.

I do hope you have enjoyed this little walk around 19 Acres, that is so full of surprises. The Gardeners here do a fantastic job, as you can see.

Thank you for being with me!

Links:

PART 1

Eltham Palace English Heritage Site.

Art Deco About The Palace.

Greenwich Councils site with an interactive view.

Eltham Palace by Plus 44

Eltham Palace & Gardens.

Regards.

Neil. 

For Nancy.