The Dwarf Orchard
Just about everything regarding the Dwarf Orchard (anyone else find that name just plain funny?) is a tangled mess. If only it was just the weeds.
It's history is hardly straightforward. It started out as a nice (much larger, by the sound of it) orchard that once belonged to Anne of Denmark (I vaguely remember it, alongside the Queen's House, being a 'Sorry I got angry, Pumpkin,' gift from her husband James I after he shouted at her for accidentally killing his favourite dog. We've all been there...) The man in charge was William Boreman, who was, BTW, responsible for the planting of the ancient chestnut trees we're all so concerned about just now, and by all accounts it was A Bit Nice.
It had roundy flowerbeds, a water feature (wonder if it was Charles I's comedy fountain...) proper paths and a mound with a black mulberry - the cutting-edge tree du jour at the time. They stuck a fence around it to stop the deer chomping the flowers and it was all very bijou.
It was given to Greenwich Hospital in 1707 - for use as a graveyard, but the Admiralty just couldn't resist the lure of development. I'm guessing that the result is the houses along the side of the Park up Maze Hill these days, which would have made the Orchard much bigger then than it is now. The article I read tactfully says that after WWII, when it was used as allotments, it " reverted through 'natural regeneration' towards bramble, scrub and sycamore woodland." That translates as "it's been totally neglected."
Well. Not quite. There have been some attempts to get this poor relation of Greenwich Park back to some kind of order. The council, who bought it in 1976, seems to have been a bit of a low point.
They leased it to Greenwich Environment Forum, which was quite enthusiastic at first, but slowly dwindled to one person, and the politics moved in. An acre of heavy weeds is an awful lot for one person to handle, and it all went very pear-shaped. I don't know all the details, which is probably a good thing.
After 30 years of campaigning, the orchard was returned to the park by Greenwich Council in 2007 (in what, on paper at least, sounds like an very silly ceremony) but by the point of the formal handover (April 2008) the wildlife had already settled in for the summer. Then they discovered the dreaded Japanese Knotweed - which needs the intensity of treatment reserved for rabies and bird 'flu.
So - what now? Well, it's finally ready to start being cleared. The brambles, nettles, ash - and those sodding sycamores (my own personal bete-noire) - have to go. The plan is to clear it out, find out exactly what's underneath, then try to restore what once was - the sweetness of miniature fruit trees, the buzzing of beehives and all-round general loveliness.
And you can help. Between Jan 19th - 21st, a three-day intensive gardening project is going on. The perfect opportunity to poke around part of Greenwich's history and work off a few of those Christmas pounds at the same time with the British Trust Conservation Volunteers. If you're interested, give Warren Young a call on 07740 899 614 or email him at W.Young@btcv.org.uk
It's history is hardly straightforward. It started out as a nice (much larger, by the sound of it) orchard that once belonged to Anne of Denmark (I vaguely remember it, alongside the Queen's House, being a 'Sorry I got angry, Pumpkin,' gift from her husband James I after he shouted at her for accidentally killing his favourite dog. We've all been there...) The man in charge was William Boreman, who was, BTW, responsible for the planting of the ancient chestnut trees we're all so concerned about just now, and by all accounts it was A Bit Nice.
It had roundy flowerbeds, a water feature (wonder if it was Charles I's comedy fountain...) proper paths and a mound with a black mulberry - the cutting-edge tree du jour at the time. They stuck a fence around it to stop the deer chomping the flowers and it was all very bijou.
It was given to Greenwich Hospital in 1707 - for use as a graveyard, but the Admiralty just couldn't resist the lure of development. I'm guessing that the result is the houses along the side of the Park up Maze Hill these days, which would have made the Orchard much bigger then than it is now. The article I read tactfully says that after WWII, when it was used as allotments, it " reverted through 'natural regeneration' towards bramble, scrub and sycamore woodland." That translates as "it's been totally neglected."
Well. Not quite. There have been some attempts to get this poor relation of Greenwich Park back to some kind of order. The council, who bought it in 1976, seems to have been a bit of a low point.
They leased it to Greenwich Environment Forum, which was quite enthusiastic at first, but slowly dwindled to one person, and the politics moved in. An acre of heavy weeds is an awful lot for one person to handle, and it all went very pear-shaped. I don't know all the details, which is probably a good thing.
After 30 years of campaigning, the orchard was returned to the park by Greenwich Council in 2007 (in what, on paper at least, sounds like an very silly ceremony) but by the point of the formal handover (April 2008) the wildlife had already settled in for the summer. Then they discovered the dreaded Japanese Knotweed - which needs the intensity of treatment reserved for rabies and bird 'flu.
So - what now? Well, it's finally ready to start being cleared. The brambles, nettles, ash - and those sodding sycamores (my own personal bete-noire) - have to go. The plan is to clear it out, find out exactly what's underneath, then try to restore what once was - the sweetness of miniature fruit trees, the buzzing of beehives and all-round general loveliness.
And you can help. Between Jan 19th - 21st, a three-day intensive gardening project is going on. The perfect opportunity to poke around part of Greenwich's history and work off a few of those Christmas pounds at the same time with the British Trust Conservation Volunteers. If you're interested, give Warren Young a call on 07740 899 614 or email him at W.Young@btcv.org.uk
Labels: Green Greenwich, Greenwich Park, Places of Interest, Things to do
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:13
12 Comments:
I'd love to get involved, but as far as I can make out, 19-21 January is mid-week. Did you mean a different weekend, or was the 'weekend' bit itself a mistake? Also, while you're there, (and apologies for the tangential nature of what follows) so to speak, I was idly browsing some online reviews for the wonderful Plume and couldn't help noticing a one-woman vendetta against the place following some child-related unpleasantness posted on just about every major pub listings site by someone here calling herself either 'daughterofforum' or Susan Bates. She's really gone to some trouble, having signed into at least five sites just to post the exact same thing. She seems to read this site, so I was wondering, if she's out there, if her ire had cooled or if she's going to continue publicly bashing what has always been, in my experience, a consustently wonderful establishment?
Sorry, 'Vicky Batemen', not Susan Bates. Either way, leave the Plume alone, already!
D'oh - I had the wrong month open on my diary. You're absolutely right - it's a Monday- Wednesday. Shame about that - it will cut out a lot of people.
I don't recall that particular child-related unpleasantness - though it certainly does seem to turn into a stand-off between parents and non parents when it comes to pubs and restaurants.
Myself - I tend to think that it's down to natural respect for others. If everyone kept an eye out for how their behaviour affected others (either parents with their kiddies or grumpy adults) then things would all be a lot smoother...
Curses! I have been itching to have a look in there for ages. I don't suppose anyone out there knows of any online photos of inside the orchard (my attempt to peer inside using Google Earth was thwarted by a leafy canopy)? I am sure it's just weeds and tangle and all very dull, but the walled secrecy of it all is just too tantalising...
Yes - it's a real shame about the dates. I had hoped to go myself, but its being weekdays cuts me out... :-(
Hi Anon
Having read through daughterofforum's rant, I have to say I think she has every right to complain. If an establishment treats a customer appallingly, they should be pulled up for it. As for 'publicly bashing' the pub, she's only using the means at her disposal to make a complaint. The Plume needs to make up its mind about what it is: it markets itself as a family-friendly pub with a playroom in the garden and a great kids' menu but can get very high and mighty about the arrival of a mere pushchair. Having a go at someone with a sleeping child is unacceptable, and in my view the pub deserves the bashing it's got. Don't get me wrong - I've had some great experiences at the Plume, but if you treat a customer badly, then that customer has every right to tell everyone about it.
I tend to agree; rudeness is inexcusable and she has every right to voice her grievance. I just can't square what she's saying with my experience of the place and its staff and would be interested to hear their side of it (after all she had already been told about the buggy, she didn't think to clear it with the manageress rather than a waitress, it might have constituted an obstacle hazardous to both staff and child and her mate might have been all kinds of arsey about it). I dare say, for example, that a waitress tripping and pouring hot gravy into the pushchair wouldn't have suited either party terribly well, and I imagine the umpteenth possibility of such a scenario, on the busiest sitting of the week, must be the stuff of nightmares for a place like that. I am not trying to excuse poor service, merely trying to imagine a context in which such an uncharacteristically unpleasant situation might have developed. Anyway, sorry again, Phantom this isn't really the place for this particular yarn, so I'll stop now.
OK, call me silly, but I've read this 3 times now and I'm still none the wiser as to where this orchard is - would someone like to give me a clue?
With regards the Plume; there's a whacking great sign outside the entrance asking politely that people fold their buggies up before entering. If the single-minded and selfish parents choose to ignore this, to the detriment of the other patrons, then they deserve a damned good rollocking.
Alas Greenwich's cafes and pubs, in particular on weekends, are plagued by these parents who seem not to grasp how inconvenient their (increasingly larger) baby chariots become when coupled with the attitude so many of them have of "my child is more important than anyone else in the world so sod off".
The dwarf orchard is in that curious, (unmarked) walled garden more or less opposite the (ahem...) Plume of Feathers pub on Park Vista at the bottom edge of the park. Its end wall is immediately to your right as you enter by the gate nearest Maze Hill station and it extends, parallel to the road, towards the Queen's House.
Sorry Captain - I keep meaning to put in one of those groovy maps with little virtual pins but I need to get an extra thingy on the site and it's currently beyond me. I'm ask the Phantom Webmaster next time they have some time (so don't hold your breath.) In the meantime, Vellum's absolutely right - it's the funny little walled garden on Park Vista, with nasty giant Sycamores poking out of the top of it.
Ah yes; In the past I had played with the idea of backing a caravan in there and "squatting" (in the legal sense - I'd ensure sufficient plumbing was in place to negate the need for this to be a statement of lavatorial position); you never know, if I'm there long enough ownership rights might revert to me!
You did a nice article about a secret garden in Angerstein Lane a few years ago and it deserves another visit. Lots of new spring planting with a wow factor, how about another visit? Anonymous.
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