A vivid display of spring flowers at Cliveden house greeted the Thames Valley Centre’s Morgans and their owners for their monthly walk. We walked around the grounds including the six acre parterre - a formal garden consisting of planting beds, typically in symmetrical patterns, and edged by tightly clipped hedging - which is one of the largest in Europe. It is planted out in 16 triangular beds and a huge half-moon bed encircling a statue at the southern end, all of which were contained spring flowering tulips. After their customary coffee and cake, some adventures Morganeers tackled The Maze, with mixed success.
I expect most of you know that Cliveden House became notorious during the 1960s as the setting for key events of the notorious Profumo Affair, but did you know that Frederick, Prince of Wales and son of George II, was a tenant of Cliveden. It was during the Prince's tenure of the house that Rule, Britannia!, an aria by the English composer Thomas Arne, was first performed in public in the cliff-side amphitheatre at Cliveden on 1 August 1740. It is believed that it was at Cliveden in 1751 that the Prince received a blow to the chest from a cricket ball while playing in the grounds, resulting infection proved fatal.
Summer is just around the corner, so why not join us for our next Sunday walk to Mottisfont house in Hampshire on the 28th June. We hope the roses will be on full display during our visit, as June apparently is the best time for them. Look forward to seeing you there.
