It is a very pleasant walk alongside the Thames from Richmond to Ham House which has remained virtually unchanged for 400 years.  It was largely the vision of Elizabeth Murray who managed to keep in favour with both Charles I and II and Cromwell and was probably a double agent of the time.  She spent an incredible sum of money on the house, furnishings and garden and wanted the place to rival the best in the land.  Of particular interest to me are the gardens which have been restored as far as possible to the original plans using the design and plants of the time.  The walled garden supplies flowers, fruit and vegetables including edible flowers to the café and for a foodbank. There is a “Wilderness” with sixteen little gardens and summerhouses where the people could contemplate.  The lawns at the front consist of eight plats which are squares of grass which would have shown how wealthy Elizabeth was that she could afford to keep the grass short before the inventions of lawn mowers. Now four of them contain wild flowers and bulbs in the grass to appeal to modern tastes and the “cherry garden” with lavender among diagonally parterres outlined by box hedges and cones enclosed by tunnel arbours and double yew hedges.