The potager at Woolbeding House. ©NTPL/Stephen Robson
Barbara, of the beautiful and lively blog It’s about Time, recently did a fascinating post about glass cloches. She has since also done one about ceramic forcing pots. This picture of the garden at Woolbeding House, West Sussex, shows two of each.
©NTPL/Stephen Robson
Woolbeding is a National Trust property which was tenanted by the late Simon Sainsbury and Stewart Grimshaw. The restrained and yet characterful interiors of the house were featured in the June 2009 issue of World of Interiors. The gardens will be open to the public for the first time in 2010 (details to be announced).
©NTPL/Stephen Robson
Simon Sainsbury was a scion of the eponymous grocery dynasty. He worked in the family firm and was an extremely generous, albeit self-effacing, philantropist.
The Gothic summerhouse and the cascade. ©NTPL/Stephen Robson
As well as contributing to many cultural and social projects, he set up a fund which supported a number of important National Trust acquisitions. The latest of these was the purchase at auction of a pair of silver salvers for Uppark.
The chinoiserie bridge, with the River God in the distance. ©NTPL/Stephen Robson
During his lifetime Simon Sainsbury always wished for his support to remain anonymous, but now we are able to celebrate the generosity and taste of this remarkable man.
