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I have travelled a good deal in Concord. Walden (1854) "Economy in Writings" (and not even as a Guild perk!)
Walden |
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Opinion Pieces
These are opinion pieces by our members that have previously appeared on our home page.
They are listed in reverse order, with the top item being the latest.
Please remember: these opinions are written by individual members and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BGTW.
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Wrest Park, by Gillian Thornton |
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Wrest Park
BGTW member Gillian Thornton describes a newly revamped attraction. She proposed it for the BGTW Tourism Awards; it didn't make it to the finals, but here's what she finds special about it:
Wrest Park in Bedfordshire is one of Britain’s most important, yet hitherto little-known gardens, which captures 300 years of garden history from 1680 to 1917, thanks to three generations of the de Grey family. In 1946, it became an institute of agricultural engineering, passing to English Heritage in 2006 when the institute closed.
2011 saw the first phase of a 20-year plan to restore the faded park and showcase its unique place in the history of English gardens, helped by a £1.14 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant. But the project is much more than just horticulture – it has far-reaching social implications to a broad audience that includes children, families, and local ethnic groups.
Until this summer, Wrest Park was largely an adult destination, but now it is truly family-friendly. A spacious new café and visitor centre overlook an outdoor terrace and children’s play area, all available to the local community without charge. And for the first time, the park is staging historical re-enactment events as part of English Heritage’s popular Time Travellers Go programme.
 Visitors to the house and park pass through the ticket area and shop to the Italian Garden and Rose Garden, both beautifully restored. Now they can visit rooms on the ground floor of the mansion, including an exhibition on Wrest Park’s history, and learn more from the free audio-guides with commentary for ad ults or children.
Access for all is key here, where physical or cultural. There’s a motorised garden cart and mobility scooter for less active visitors, and families can discover the park together by borrowing a backpack full of themed activities.
In addition, four garden apprentices are being taken on each year to study for RHS qualifications and an active volunteer programme is attracting both the young and not-so-young - a fantastic new lease of life for a magical park that has slumbered too long.
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"It was the sign for carnage to begin. Plates frisbeed, bowls performed looping arcs through the air, dishes tumbled like acrobats against the sky, glasses caught the starlight as they rose briefly into the night. All eventually joined the growing pile of broken crockery on the flagstones below. Soon we had cleared the table and we paused, somewhat shocked, to admire our wanton vandalism. For a moment I thought the couple would go inside in search of more breakables, but we were sated and sunk back into our chairs to finish drinking, swigging straight from the bottles. Nodas never stopped dancing."
Andrew Bostock, Greek Easter, Inside the Mani, 2009
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