After more than a century, orchids
are blooming at an historic East Dorset estate.
The National-Trust restored
Victorian orchid house, which used to be an important part of the kitchen
garden at Kingston Lacy, has reopened after fallen into ruin. The orchid house
was part of a large complex of glass houses which had become disused.
Courtesy of a grant of £40,000 from
Local Action Group Sowing Seeds, two buildings have now been repaired.
An exotic variety of orchids is
on display, replicating those cultivated by the original owners.
According to the local press,
staff dug deep into archives from the Bankes family to find out more about the
orchid collection at Kingston Lacy.
As any orchidmaniac will know,
fashionable Victorians coined the term ‘orchidelirium’ to describe their
obsession with orchids.
The passion for the exotic and
fragile flowers was particularly seen at Kingston Lacy, where Walter Ralph
Bankes, and later Henrietta Bankes, developed their collection.
Modern-day researchers consulted specific references to the orchids in the garden diary of Walter
Bankes dating from 1896. The Amateur Orchid Cultivators' Guide Book, published in
1894, is inscribed with handwritten notes by Henrietta Bankes.
The award of the grant has
enabled two of the glasshouses – one of them a ‘sunken’ glass house – to be
restored along with the small boiler house and cold frames, creating a new
public area in the Kitchen Garden. Find out more on the Kingston Lacy website.
I wonder how many Victorian orchid
houses there are out there, just waiting to be renovated?
Here’s a fascinating photo of remains
of one near St Lawrence on the southern tip of the Isle of Wight. Underneath the complex are
rooms housing the boiler. In the underground rooms there’s apparently a freshwater
stream which the gardeners no doubt appreciated.
By Pamela Kelt
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