Bearwood's Grounds Laid Bare!

Sunday gave us a rare chance to have a wander round the freshly restored grounds of Bearwood College; once the country home of Sir John Walter III, proprietor of 'The Times', philanthropist and general all-round decent sort of chap (by all accounts), the property is now home to several hundred children of varying ages as they skin their knees and furrow their brows in pursuit of a (probably) quite expensive education.



Usually closed to the public, Bearwood College opened it's grounds to the public last Sunday for 3 hours, under the National Gardens Scheme.



The pupils are working tremendously hard to restore the grounds much as they were back in the day of Sir John Walter III. There is still some way to go before Sir John would recognise it all, but the effort that is still ongoing is fantastic. The pupils are tasked not only with clearing a hundred years-worth of debris from the original pebble paths and steps, but they are also actively removing invasive species and troublesome plants such as Rhododendron ponticum, and replacing them with old cultivars that would have been around in 1870/1880 when the grounds were first laid out.

Some losses have been inevitable over the years, a couple of mature Monkey Puzzle trees for example, but the restoration of the grounds with original planting and styles sympathetic to their first owners is not only rather heartwarming, but really quite exciting as well. It is a real labour of love.

It's a gargantuan task... the grounds include wooded walks,



reedbeds, the lake, lawns and shrubbery, a rock and water garden, and the meadows.

The pupils are also sympathetic to modern views as well, however. Where Sir Walter's garden would have been highly ornamental, the current aims of conservation and preservation have been extended to the wildlife that has made Bearwood their home. The ice house in the woods, for example, is now used as a bat roost, the kingfisher has recently returned to the lake, and the lake has also seen a pair of storks who have actually reared young!

Old ways of the woods are also revived, however, but in a more modern way;



Charcoal burning using sustainable and considered practices ensures fuel, but not at the cost of the wider environment as the school ensures it's carbon footprint is negligible as far as it can be!!

The whole project is a huge success, showing how old and young, ancient and modern can be melded to produce something very special indeed... a new future, sustainable and beautiful.



And a note to my mum... if you will walk in front of my camera, you will get your photo taken, he he!!

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk