In the lines of Kew Gardens & Eltham Palace is this another property called Chiswick House & Gardens. The house is actually a tiny little portion of the humongous expanse of land filled with greenery and blue waters!!!
To begin with, the house was pretty much a palatial home, but errr.... it actually has no kitchen or dining hall! This was built by the 3rd Earl of Burlington in 1729, who was very much inspired by the Italian & Roman architecture. But I actually didn't feel the Italian or Roman styling in the architecture, though I felt it in the art & sculptures.
As soon as you enter there isn't much! There are a few rooms filled with prints of old photographs. The central hall is octagonal shaped, again nothing in it. When the Earl lived here, he must have hosted his visitors in this room. On a path to a side leads to a smaller room which has a marble bust of Napoleon. Steps down from there leads to the wine/beer cellar which was definitely cool. Another path from there leads to a long corridor where there were 3 huge roman styled standing statues which lead to another chamber there was a sphinx styled sculpture. The details on how the restoration happened was explained here with samples of how it was & how was it renovated. Back to the room behind the octagonal hall, to the stairs to go up and there's where all the magic is!
Pic Courtesy: English Heritage
Pic Courtesy: Richard Bryant via English Heritage
The palatial effect is understood here. There is a Green Velvet room, a Blue Velvet room, a Red Velvet room, color coordinated with wall paper, furnishings & filled with paintings! The central octoganal saloon was a visual delight. Everything was intricately carved and gilded with gold! It was a visual delight and richness objectified. The dome shaped ceiling was just beyond awesome! A path here as well led to the link building where there were huge Greek styled pillars!!! So yeah, food was brought here from the link building in those days since this place has no kitchen!!! So it was also critically viewed when it was built!!!!!
Outside in this Garden premises, is a beautiful waterbody, a canal that goes from one end of the gardens to the other. The water has a slight current and at one end it actually falls like a mini waterfalls which makes the whole place so serene. The swans & ducks & pigeons were just enjoying the summer day and to watch them made my day!!!
There are only 2 bridges that connect the 2 banks of this canal on almost either sides of the garden. On one side somewhere at the midpoint of the 2 bridges is this Ionic Temple. It is accompanied by Mirror pond & Amphi-theatre which is generally not open unless on special event days.
There is an octagonal pond and a conservatory beside. The shape of this conservatory is pretty much similar to the main conservatory in Kew. Inside this the rare camellias are protected.
Just outside this is the Italian Garden. This was planned out by Lewis Kennedy in 1814. Set up in a semi circular shape with geometrical pattern with verbena, petunia, calceolaria, fuchsia, pansies etc.
To Get There:
Nearest Tube Station: Chiswick
Entry to the gardens: Free; Entry to the House: £6.70
Opening days & timings:
10:00 to 18:00 Sun-Wed from Mar-Sep;
10:00 to 17:00 Sun-Wed from Oct;
Closed from Nov-Mar
Never been to or heard of Chiswick House and Gardens, so I guess even after so many visits, there is something to discover in London. I do feel that if you have visited a few castles and "houses" in England, they all seem a lot similar, but the architecture is often different and always interesting. The garden is another story and immaculately kept and full of so many features that make it special and perfect for a day out. Thanks for all the historical facts.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this post on Chiswick House. Even though I lived in the UK for four years, I never visited there! The garden and grounds looks beautiful. I especially love the camellia flowers. In Japan, they produce a hair oil from their seeds!
ReplyDeleteIt is such a surprise that a building as grand as this has no kitchen or dining room. I am impressed by the architecture nevertheless. Their garden is pretty well maintained as well.
ReplyDeleteAgain I'm embarrassed to say that as a Londoner, I've never been here! The English Heritage photos are wonderful, and yours too of the outside garden. How many velvet rooms were there here?! I must try to visit myself!
ReplyDeleteI’ve never heard of Chiswick House and Gardens. But the place looks stunningly beautiful with all that greenery, the waterfall, the canal and the bridges. The temple and the mirror pond looks quite fascinating. Definitely a worth visit place. Your pictures are simply breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteWe have never heard of Chiswick House London does have a lot of hidden historical gems. The idea of color coordinated Velvet rooms with furnishings and paintings sounds fascinating. Chiswick House and its gardens with the canal and the lush greens definitely make for an ideal location to host the guests.
ReplyDeleteI love how green this place is! This garden is so stunning with the canal, the bridges and flowers. I would love to visit London one day and go to this Garden.
ReplyDeleteI can see similarities between the conservatory at Kew gardens and the one at the Chiswick House. It's a nice alternative actually to the one in Kew Gardens which is in renovation until late next year probably. I didn't know about the existance of Chiswick House either but it looks wonderful, a great place to go if you want to relax in the middle of nature on a nice sunny day. I love the canal, I bet you can have a nice picnic somewhere along it.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a fantastic place to photograph! The grounds are so beautiful. It seems a lot of people don't know about this place, so it may be less crowded than other London sites?
ReplyDeleteWhat the property lacks in function (no kitchen?!) it certainly makes up for in beauty! The surrounding gardens and canal pathways are absolutely stunning- I can only imagine how peaceful you felt while there. Seems like a great addition to the numerous palatial homes throughout London.
ReplyDeleteHad not heard of this before but it looks very pleasant and a lovely palace to visit. I would love to see all the gold everywhere! Interesting that you didn't feel it was true to traditional Italian or Roman styling. I guess architecture is also subjective, isn't it! Maybe it was designed as a more subtle nod, rather than being totally modelled on that style.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of the Chiswick House, so I'm glad that you put this post together! It's super interesting that it didn't have a kitchen or dining room- where were the owners meant to host dinner parties?! I can imagine it was a pain to bring food over to the main house every meal!
ReplyDeleteFor saying I live in the UK I've never been to Chiswick! It sounds beautiful, especially the garden with the river running through and the ducks. I would love to go and see the camellias in the conservatory too. I can't believe they don't have a kitchen though! The velvet rooms sound very opulent - imagine having somewhere like this as your playground.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Chiswick House & Garden, but it looks like such a gorgeous place! I could imagine sitting and reading a book while taking in all the beauty! And I love all the stonework!
ReplyDeleteEnglish heritage is so detailed and wonderful, I would love to visit this place. The Italian and Roman influences make it a good combination, it does look lovely. Visiting in the Summer must be better than in Winter I bet, especially with the flowers.
ReplyDeleteThe gardens and the canal looks lovely, right out of a vintage english novel. I find the no kitchen and dining hall in a house little bit funny. The property overall is stunning, what a delight it must have been to explore it.
ReplyDeleteThis is like a fairy tale home. With all those bridges and the lovely green gardens, I can almost imagine Mary Poppins waiting to pop out. Beautiful clicks Bhushavali
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