4. Bowling Green Lawn

Narrator:

In 1914, Bowles wrote:

Voice of Bowles:

I have never felt disgust for variegated foliage evinced by so many good gardeners and in many cases I warmly admire it.

SFX: Sound of children playing games/laughter

Narrator:

At the far end of the lawn there are two large beds of variegated plants that Bowles referred to as “Tom Tiddlers Ground”. – He named them after an old children’s game – Tom Tiddler. The aim of the game was for a child to defend a patch of ground, which was supposed to be where he kept a store of gold and silver.

In these two beds Bowles applied a loose theme to his planting – with golden leaved plants to one side, silver leaves in the middle and purple leaved plants on the other side. The larch tree – or Larix Decidua - at the edge of the bed was planted in 1985 to replace an earlier one, which was thought to have grown here for around 280 years.