On 16/02/2013 10:30, Martin wrote:
On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 09:22:40 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:


There are good reasons for not being able to change the outside of a
Grade I listed building. Maybe we should be thinking about having Grade
I listed gardens, too, and restoring them to their original state - not
"improving" them.

Which original state? The state after 1 year, 10 years, 50 years, 100
years or 250 years? At Studley Royal Water Gardens mature trees that
were planted when the garden were new were felled and burnt.

As in the example I gave, the original state would have been
Elizabethan. However, if the house had been so changed in the Regency
period that it was effectively no longer Elizabethan in design, but
Regency, then it would make sense to "restore" it to a Regency garden,
reflecting the main design of the house. Usually, though, the
modifications are not so clear-cut. Maybe a new wing would be added in
a new design. Maybe the front would change, but the back remain as the
original. So you might have an Elizabethan back with a Georgian front.
In that case, a garden at the back might be made of Elizabethan
design, while if there was one in the front, it should be Georgian.

With Studley, it would not be possible to immediately plant it with 20m+
mature trees. But that doesn't mean one shouldn't put smaller ones in
and let them grow. And, let's face it, that was the whole idea behind
the grand 18thC landscape gardens - not what you got *now* - but what
you would see in 50 years time. So with that example I'd be happy to
see anything from mid 18th to early 19thC if you were trying to restore
it, but not anything later.

--

Jeff