Today being bright and sunny we thought of the spring flowers at Hampton Court, having last seen them on a visit not logged here but logged on our annual garden tickets purchased on the occasion, vis Saturday 6th April. An occasion when we paid the Saturday rate at the railway station car park of £6, it being a matter of luck whether paying £1.50 an hour at the Court is a better deal. A plus of the railway station is that it makes it more likely that one will sample the exotic wares in Bridge Street, rather than settling for the decent but dull Heritage Canteen (aka the Tiltyard Café). On this occasion we paid the Sunday rate of £2, clearly a good deal. Plus walking across the bridge not a penance on what was a warm and sunny spring day. But oddly, not a day which brought the crowds out, at least not in the first half. Maybe tourists do marathons too.
Two weeks ago the daffodils in the Wilderness were just coming into flower. They looked well enough, but I think the day was quite cold and overcast. But today they were in full flood in the bright sunshine. Some going, lots here and some to come. Plus various other stuff in between, not to mention the seven trunked magnolia which was in splendid form (in the bit of garden to the immediate north of the rose garden. North north west if one is being picky).
Onto the formal gardens where there were lots of hyacinths, mainly blue, interplanted with early bedding plants. There is no doubt that the gardeners at Hampton Court know their stuff, getting a much better result, for example, than those small competition show gardens you get at flower shows - including the one at Hampton Court - which I do not care for at all, even supposing that they were not full of people.
Onto the privy garden, looking as well as ever. Today including a very effective display of some frothy white hyacinths to complement the usually dominant greens.
Onto to the two sunken gardens, also looking as well as ever, with strong floral scents (of hyacinths) as a bonus. I was reminded that jigsaw 16, Series 1 (July 7th 2012 in the other place) is only good as a souvenir and does not capture the spirit of the place for someone who has not been there, not unless they are better endowed than I with gardening imagination.
Snacked on this occasion at the Heritage Canteen, where BH was happy with her soup but I thought my fish pie was a little dear at near £10. For that money I expect white fish, not salmon, and a bigger portion of green veg.. Back across the bridge to inspect the little poster stuck on the hoardings hiding what we presume is the about to be built on building plot at the south eastern end of the bridge, vacant for years but tidied up last year so that visitors to the bicycling part of the Olympics did not get the wrong idea. I believe that there has been debate for most of those years about what to do with this prime site, with fine views of the river and palace, fine facilities (although it has to be said that the wet & dry fish shop in Bridge Street is no longer with us) and the handy railway. Residents' Associations and others have been pushing for a park, but it seems that it has now been resolved to build flats, five stories of them, in a number of blocks. How awfuls all round. But I was reminded of the poor standard of public debate about such matters. No-one appears to be pondering in public about whether it is better to forego the cash flowing in from such a development in favour of cash flowing out from a park. Parks are all very well but who is going to pay for them at a time when council budgets are being hammered? Are you sure you want a park rather than keeping the drop in centre for the elderly up the road up and running?
Park lovers are very good about banging on about how accountants are running the show, but they are often not very good at coming up with the filthy lucre needed to run the show themselves. And they need to remember that we are no longer filthy rich Victorians awash with dosh for good works. Times have changed since Sir Josh. Bazelgette CB and his kind were up and running.
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