In article ,
says...

On 2013-07-27 21:47:49 +0100, Bob Hobden said:

"Sacha" wrote ...

Bob Hobden said:

Recently renovated and improved...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobhobd...7634812033137/

OR as it was before...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobhobd...7624392723072/

I can see what they tried to do but somehow it's lost a lot in the process.



It looks a bit too 'manicured' now?


We took some friends that haven't been there for years, and then it was
in the winter, they were shocked that it had lost it's slightly unkept
charm and was now just a boring large rectangular pond with lilies.

That is exactly what it was designed to be; classically formal and
geometric.


Manicured to within an inch of it's life. A bit like tidying up the
Lost Gardens of Helegan.

The Savill Garden wanted to show the before and after in their magazine
and asked me if they could use my before photos which I agreed. Suffice
to say none got printed of the before, it would have shown exactly what
my before and after here show.

I must say that this is where i have a great deal of sympathy with
thinkingardens.com. People do NOT think for the most part, they just
look, accept and coo about how pretty something is. A whole character
has been lost and probably/perhaps some environmental benefits for
wildlife, too. That's no more a 'cow pond' than our fish ponds are.
If it really was a cow pond, it should indeed be unkempt, overgrown
here and there, loads of wild water plants etc.

??? ISTR it never was a "cowpond" ( drinking/cooling place for cows);
it was originally designed and constructed as a classic expanse of
water in a formal,controlled, designed landscape. The so-called cow pond
was inspired by the formal canals at Versailles.

They've restored it to the original, very formal design intention.

Janet