I expect this is a bit of a minority interest, but I love tropical
houses. We used to have one in Victoria Park in Portsmouth that I
visited as a kid - I loved all that lush vegetation, the stepping
stones over the fish pond etc. I've since seen one or two in other
places, e.g. Cotswold Wildlife Park. Could sit in there for ages just
enjoying the warmth and watching the wildlife. Anyone else here share
my enthusiasm, and maybe have some good recommendations for other
tropical houses elsewhere?

Cheers :-)

John.

"Icarus" wrote in message
...
I expect this is a bit of a minority interest, but I love tropical
houses. We used to have one in Victoria Park in Portsmouth that I
visited as a kid - I loved all that lush vegetation, the stepping
stones over the fish pond etc. I've since seen one or two in other
places, e.g. Cotswold Wildlife Park. Could sit in there for ages just
enjoying the warmth and watching the wildlife. Anyone else here share
my enthusiasm, and maybe have some good recommendations for other
tropical houses elsewhere?

If you're still living in Pompey you could nip over to the island and visit
Ventnor gardens. ISTR they had a tropical house, with a high walkway where
you could look down on the plants from above. Actually I can't be sure if
it's fully tropical, it was a long time ago, but I'm sure it will exist in
www land.

Steve

"Icarus" wrote in message
...
I expect this is a bit of a minority interest, but I love tropical
houses. We used to have one in Victoria Park in Portsmouth that I
visited as a kid - I loved all that lush vegetation, the stepping
stones over the fish pond etc. I've since seen one or two in other
places, e.g. Cotswold Wildlife Park. Could sit in there for ages just
enjoying the warmth and watching the wildlife. Anyone else here share
my enthusiasm, and maybe have some good recommendations for other
tropical houses elsewhere?


Oh, and I forgot to mention there's a tropical rainforest place near
Newbury, I've seen the signs near Chievely junction, but I haven't been
there.

Steve

shazzbat wrote:

"Icarus" wrote in message
...
I expect this is a bit of a minority interest, but I love
tropical houses. We used to have one in Victoria Park in
Portsmouth that I visited as a kid - I loved all that lush
vegetation, the stepping stones over the fish pond etc. I've
since seen one or two in other places, e.g. Cotswold Wildlife
Park. Could sit in there for ages just enjoying the warmth
and watching the wildlife. Anyone else here share my
enthusiasm, and maybe have some good recommendations for
other tropical houses elsewhere?


Oh, and I forgot to mention there's a tropical rainforest
place near Newbury, I've seen the signs near Chievely
junction, but I haven't been there.

Thanks for the tips Steve!

"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

"Icarus" wrote in message
...
I expect this is a bit of a minority interest, but I love tropical
houses. We used to have one in Victoria Park in Portsmouth that I
visited as a kid - I loved all that lush vegetation, the stepping
stones over the fish pond etc. I've since seen one or two in other
places, e.g. Cotswold Wildlife Park. Could sit in there for ages just
enjoying the warmth and watching the wildlife. Anyone else here share
my enthusiasm, and maybe have some good recommendations for other
tropical houses elsewhere?


Oh, and I forgot to mention there's a tropical rainforest place near
Newbury, I've seen the signs near Chievely junction, but I haven't been
there.

Steve


I went there maybe 10 years ago, its was pretty new then but still good, I
imagine as its matured its got a lot better, keep meaning to revisit it.

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Icarus" contains these words:

I expect this is a bit of a minority interest, but I love tropical
houses. We used to have one in Victoria Park in Portsmouth that I
visited as a kid - I loved all that lush vegetation, the stepping
stones over the fish pond etc. I've since seen one or two in
other
places, e.g. Cotswold Wildlife Park. Could sit in there for ages
just enjoying the warmth and watching the wildlife. Anyone else
here share my enthusiasm, and maybe have some good recommendations
for other tropical houses elsewhere?

I love the smell, especially on wet winter days. Kew, Glasgow
and
Edinburgh Botanical Gardens all have crackers, well worth a
visit.
Queens Park in Glasgow used to have one, but during the 70's
someone
in the parks dept had the notion of having free-range parrots, or
was
it cockatoos, flying loose among the tropical plants. The birds
rapidly demolished the woodwork supporting the ironwork and glass,
it
was hurriedly closed, and afaik never re-opened :-}

I used to love the relatively small one in the Oxford Bot Gardens,
close to Magdalen Bridge: my father, visiting once, had to leave it
because it reminded him painfully of war service in New Guinea, so it
must have been good! I hope it's still there.

Don't neglect the architecturally stunning glasshouse at the new
National Botanic Garden of Wales near Carmarthen: they run it as a
Mediterranean habitat, not a tropical one, and it's full of good
Australian etc stuff. They need all the support they can get, too,
not having had all the publicity bovril lavished on "Eden" and
others.

--
Mike.

In article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Don't neglect the architecturally stunning glasshouse at the new
National Botanic Garden of Wales near Carmarthen: they run it as a
Mediterranean habitat, not a tropical one, and it's full of good
Australian etc stuff. They need all the support they can get, too,
not having had all the publicity bovril lavished on "Eden" and
others.

Went there on Easter Sunday. Its stunning.
It was threatened financially last year, but I hope it survives.
Being built away from large centres of population in an area that doesn't
get that much tourism means that their audience figures are inevitably
poor. They do indeed need all the support they can get.

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:01:11 +0100,
(John McMillan) wrote:

Don't neglect the architecturally stunning glasshouse at the new
National Botanic Garden of Wales near Carmarthen: they run it as a
Mediterranean habitat, not a tropical one, and it's full of good
Australian etc stuff. They need all the support they can get, too,
not having had all the publicity bovril lavished on "Eden" and
others.

Went there on Easter Sunday. Its stunning.
It was threatened financially last year, but I hope it survives.
Being built away from large centres of population in an area that doesn't
get that much tourism means that their audience figures are inevitably
poor. They do indeed need all the support they can get.

We found that going to that one, from Bristol, was amazingly easy
driving. Dual carriageway or Motorway almost the whole way.
Very well worth a visit, and still being developed.

Pam in Bristol

John McMillan wrote:
In article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Don't neglect the architecturally stunning glasshouse at the new
National Botanic Garden of Wales near Carmarthen: they run it as a
Mediterranean habitat, not a tropical one, and it's full of good
Australian etc stuff. They need all the support they can get, too,
not having had all the publicity bovril lavished on "Eden" and
others.

Went there on Easter Sunday. Its stunning.
It was threatened financially last year, but I hope it survives.
Being built away from large centres of population in an area that
doesn't get that much tourism means that their audience figures are
inevitably poor. They do indeed need all the support they can
get.

Strange, isn't it, that West Wales doesn't feature as strongly as
Cornwall on the holiday map? The weather's the same, the beaches as
good, the fishing a thousand times better, riddled with castles,
plenty of stuff for children -- horrifying roller-coaster at Oakwood
Park, Folly Farm for fun real-fake farm visit, chocolate factory,
great mountain-biking courses, silly trains, etc etc -- far less
crowded, no traffic nightmares, and far less tat. Really nice people,
too.

--
Mike.

Hi folks,

I just noticed another guy here using Icarus as his nic. I use icarus and
have done for about 10 years.

Its not a complaint, just a comment; there are two of us !!!

cheers

Thanks for pointing it out. The other Icarus signs his posts
John..perhaps you could sign yours with something to distinguish them
from his?

Janet

OK, that's a good idea.

I'll use the nom de plume of ice ( I must remember to keep cool).

"icarus" wrote in :


Thanks for pointing it out. The other Icarus signs his posts
John..perhaps you could sign yours with something to distinguish them
from his?

Janet

OK, that's a good idea.

I'll use the nom de plume of ice ( I must remember to keep cool).


That's OK - his I is bigger than your one!

Now we know, we can look out for it.

Victoria

--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

In article , Icarus
writes
I expect this is a bit of a minority interest, but I love tropical
houses. We used to have one in Victoria Park in Portsmouth that I
visited as a kid - I loved all that lush vegetation, the stepping
stones over the fish pond etc. I've since seen one or two in other
places, e.g. Cotswold Wildlife Park. Could sit in there for ages just
enjoying the warmth and watching the wildlife. Anyone else here share
my enthusiasm, and maybe have some good recommendations for other
tropical houses elsewhere?

Cheers :-)

John.

The glasshouses at City of Birmingham Botanic Gardens include tropical,
subtropical, Mediterranean and arid houses.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Thanks for pointing it out. The other Icarus signs his posts
John..perhaps you could sign yours with something to distinguish them
from his?

Janet

OK, that's a good idea.

I'll use the nom de plume of ice ( I must remember to keep cool).


That's OK - his I is bigger than your one!

Now we know, we can look out for it.

Victoria



You promised that you wouldn't tell anyone !

ice

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 18:50:01 +0100, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:

In article , Icarus
writes
I expect this is a bit of a minority interest, but I love tropical
houses. We used to have one in Victoria Park in Portsmouth that I
visited as a kid - I loved all that lush vegetation, the stepping
stones over the fish pond etc. I've since seen one or two in other
places, e.g. Cotswold Wildlife Park. Could sit in there for ages just
enjoying the warmth and watching the wildlife. Anyone else here share
my enthusiasm, and maybe have some good recommendations for other
tropical houses elsewhere?

Cheers :-)

John.

The glasshouses at City of Birmingham Botanic Gardens include tropical,
subtropical, Mediterranean and arid houses.

Did you say you're still in Portsmouth?
I loved that as a kid too espically the cage at the end with the mynah
birds. If you are still living in the area Staunton Country Park
(known locally as Lee Park Gardens) just outside Havant has a large
victorian conservatory with a tropical section.
Ford.