Grand Staircase.

Mrs TD and myself visited The Lost Garden today, I am negotiating to put my new bees there and we were looking to see how suitable it would be. The community development trust took out a lease on it, I think the terms were for a hundred years at a peppercorn rent and, so far, they have only brought a tiny proportion of it under cultivation. Much of the rest of it is occupied by conifers that were planted for the Christmas trade but have long since outgrown that possibility. They will now, I hope, provide the bees with protection from the wind.

The blip is of The Grand Staircase in the middle of the walled garden and, in its prime, it must have been really grand. The ground beyond would have been under glass and, with the aid of hotbeds, exotic produce would have been grown for the local markets. The Victorian era saw fierce rivalry between the gardeners from the various grand houses competing over who could produce the best fruit, it seems that pineapples were a popular category. A fact commemorated by the Dunmore Pineapple.