JAMES GRASBY: Hello and welcome to the National Trust podcast.
I'm James Grasby, a senior curator for the National Trust,
and today I'm heading to one of England's most densely populated
counties, to a little pocket of peace where you can find
sanctuary in a garden of winding paths and lakeside walks.
But go back in history. Claremont Landscape Garden was
more a journey into a world of fantasy, hedonism and wild
abandonment.
Before I head to Surrey to discover more of Claremont's
fascinating history, I thought I'd take you on a journey of
escapism. To the world of TV and one of the hottest costume
dramas. This is Bridgerton, set in Regency-era London. [Sound of
Bridgerton - Courtesy of Netflix]
Think lavish London dos. [Sound of Bridgerton - Courtesy of
Netflix]
Think scandal and love rivalry. And you get the picture. [
GENERIC: Sound of Bridgerton - Courtesy of Netflix] My mama had
to stay home with her. Papa had to chaperone.
I'm quite enjoying the fact that he is here. Mama would never
allow me to wear a dress like this. Not yellow enough, I
think. Mr Bridgeton. I believe you owe me a dance this eveing.
And I have only one more space remaining on my card perhaps-
how convenient! Penelope, I did not see you there.
I'm afraid I cannot offer you that dance, Miss Cowper. I am to
escort Miss Featherington to the floor.
JAMES GRASBY: That scene was set at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens,
the outdoor entertainment venue of its day. Vauxhall was a
public garden to be seen at. Claremont, where I'm headed
tomorrow, was invitation only, but it was also a place to
party.
I've arrived after an evening watching Bridgerton.
Leaving the busy road and with one or two rather noisy
aircraft, I'm entering what looks to be a leafy paradise.
Welcome to Claremont, the sign says. There is a pretty
pavilion, which looks like the ticket office. It's even got a
white dove on the roof. What could be more lovely?
Hello.
GENERIC: Hello.
JAMES GRASBY: Good morning. I wonder if you could show me the
way to my friend Rebecca Wallace.
GENERIC: Follow me. She's over by the rowing boat. It's
Charlotte and Victoria.
JAMES GRASBY: Thank you very much indeed. Victoria and
Charlotte, the rowing boat.
This looks very promising. An arched opening in this leafy
glade. And there is my friend, Rebecca.
REBECCA WALLACE: Hello, James.
JAMES GRASBY: What a beautiful morning. It's spring.
REBECCA WALLACE: Look at the sunshine reflecting on the lake.
And you've got the geese coming over to say hello as well.
JAMES GRASBY: Behind you is a lake going off into the far
distance. Pristine lawns and rising ground with trees and all
the promise of temples and little bits and pieces. It's got
a big story this place?
REBECCA WALLACE: It has! It's arguably one of the most
well-known gardens of its day. We're talking 300 years ago.
It's monumental in terms of scale, ambition, in terms of the
setting.
JAMES GRASBY: I can resist it no longer. Let's go for a walk.
What, to your mind, makes it so incredible and important?
REBECCA WALLACE: It's a succession of very wealthy and
influential owners. And they had the opportunity and the means to
take on the very best garden designers of the era in the 18th
century.
JAMES GRASBY: Rebecca, it's taken my breath away.
REBECCA WALLACE: We're walking along a path which was once the
original Portsmouth Road. The road was relocated in the 18th
century at great expense to ensure the privacy of the owners
of Claremont and the fact they probably didn't want something
to disturb the most magical landscape that you see around
you today.
JAMES GRASBY: That's a lovely idea, diverting a sort of HS2 so
that you could build yourself a garden.
REBECCA WALLACE: And it's incredible to think that the
ability to do that, but also to make sure that the garden looks
at its very finest. And you can see all these features as we're
walking around.
On the left-hand side across the lake, we've got the bell aisle,
as it was called, with the building in the centre.
That would originally have had a bridge to it. We'll be coming up
shortly to the grotto.
You know, all of these features that were so important to give a
sense of surprise and joy and interest to people.
What's really interesting about Claremont is the time that it's
developed in the 18th century is exactly at the same time as
there's a huge amount of social change in terms of expectation
about what gardens should do and what they should offer,
particularly in terms of entertainment.
They are pleasure gardens rather than productive crop growing
gardens.
They are spaces to gather, to escape your troubles.
Those that were very wealthy, it was becoming almost expected
that you would have a pleasure ground, a pleasure garden like
this to entertain, to host events, to stage large galas and
to really impress your neighbours.
It was very much about looking at what Duke of such and such
had done and then try and copy it yourself.
So we're going to continue around the garden. We met by the
boats and the current garden entrance.
That actually wasn't the original entrance that visitors
to Claremont in the 18th century would have seen. We would have
come from the other end of the garden, but we'll walk round and
show you the moments of reveal and views that would have been
intended.
JAMES GRASBY: How lovely. Lead the way.
REBECCA WALLACE: Will do!
JAMES GRASBY: Rebecca, that was a brisk climb. I wasn't
expecting that.
This is the margins of the garden, but in the distance, I
can see a four-square classical house, which I guess is
Claremont?
REBECCA WALLACE: This would have been the visitor entrance to the
gardens. So you can get a sense here of how visitors would have
walked from the house across the landscape and accessed the
formal gardens.
JAMES GRASBY: So Rebecca, as a visitor, I've arrived here. This
was the entrance to the garden and there is the great house.
But who was I coming to see?
REBECCA WALLACE: Guests to Claremont in the 18th century
were visiting the Duke and Duchess Of Newcastle.
Thomas Pelham-Holles and his wife Henrietta lived here for
about 40, 50 years. They were socially very well connected.
He was a politician for over 30 years and prime minister twice
and was hosting events here for the great and the good of the
day.
So we're talking politicians, nobility, dare I say royalty at
times. He and his wife would host these large gatherings akin
to fête champêtres.
JAMES GRASBY: Fête champêtre, that has lovely resonances,
fates and gardens, pleasure and fun outside.
REBECCA WALLACE: And Claremont lends itself to that. And, you
know, whether he's hosting a large party, a large fete or
garden party, as we might call it today, or a small intimate
gathering, the variety of entertainment on offer, the
music that might be played, the games that might be played.
There are moments around this garden where you could really do
as your heart desires.
JAMES GRASBY: Hundreds of people in glamorous outfits, music,
jollity, drink, food, fun.
REBECCA WALLACE: Places like Claremont were really incredibly
important because they were places where people could
network as well as socialise and be entertained. And it was
incredibly important in terms of that ability to get on in
society.
DAVID COKE: Really ordinary people in smaller houses didn't
socialise very much. There was a hole in the market. I'm David
Coke and I'm a social historian specialising in the Georgian
Pleasure Gardens of London.
The trip to Vauxhall started usually with a trip over the
river. It really represented a kind of separation from ordinary
life in London, from your business, from your stresses and
strains, from all your worries. And you would leave them behind,
find Vauxhall Gardens. The first thing you'd notice would be the
music.
The bandstand was surrounded by things called supper boxes,
which were a bit like theatre boxes, where people would go to
have a bite to eat.
When I say a bite, that's really what it was. The food was very
sparse and extremely expensive. Sitting in your supper box, you
could watch the other people going by, and one of the great
joys of Vauxhall was to see the other people there.
See who they were with, see what they were wearing, see how
expensive they looked, and see who was rushing off one of the
dark walks with somebody else so you would know who was pairing
up with who.
And that was all part of the gossip of the time.
Later on, the entertainment became much more, I suppose,
popular.
There were things like tightrope dancers.
An American brought his wild cats, lions, tigers, cheetahs,
leopards.
So he would take in a lamb or something like that or a small
child and show them how well trained they were.
I often get asked what it was like to be there. It's a
difficult question to answer because there isn't anything
like it in modern life. It's a sort of slightly strange
offspring of the Buckingham Palace Garden Party and
Glastonbury.
JAMES GRASBY: Rebecca, you've brought me out of the wind into
this lovely area of lawn.
Claremont is full of surprises.
REBECCA WALLACE: Claremont is full of these amazing surprises.
And then we have a real showstopper to show you later.
JAMES GRASBY: Have you?
REBECCA WALLACE: But before that, I'd like to introduce
Graham Alderton, our head gardener here.
JAMES GRASBY: Graham, how do you do?
GRAHAM ALDERTON: How do you do, James?
JAMES GRASBY: You're the luckiest man alive. I am. It's
beautiful.
GRAHAM ALDERTON: Claremont is incredibly important. As it
charts the history, the origins of the English landscape
movement, we had four of the most influential designers
leaving their mark on the landscape here.
First of all, we have Vanbrugh. If you look behind you, you can
see the Belvedere. And then the pleasure garden all comes out
from this area.
JAMES GRASBY: Wow. Graham, Claremont, you both have
ambushed me again. That is extraordinary. I mean, the
ground rises. That's about 150 metres, I guess, to the top,
with beautiful symmetrical beech hedges, neatly clipped by your
fair hands, I guess?
GRAHAM ALDERTON: He builds this not long after he sells it to
Thomas Pelham-Holles. Bridgeman came in just after Vanbrugh.
Bridgeman puts in the pond, the amphitheatre, and a few walks so
the Duke can get his daily exercise. William Kent then is
brought in.
Kent is very much the instigator of the English landscape
movement.
He gets rid of the formal lines. He introduces meandering walks,
and he puts in small buildings.
Then we have Capability Brown, who had a very light touch. The
area around the current house, the only area where there's a
Brownian landscape, big, wide, open vistas.
JAMES GRASBY: You're in a long line, a long trajectory, of
people who have loved this place, nurtured it. And also
thought deeply about it.
GRAHAM ALDERTON: To be able to work in the footsteps of
Vanbrugh, Bridgeman, Kent and Brown is quite a rarity, but
some of these designers worked at Stowe as well, which I
understand you're familiar with?
In fact, you were watching it yesterday, whilst you were
watching an episode of Bridgerton.
Bridgerton was actually filmed at Stowe.
HANNAH GREIG: To be at Stowe to film the Vauxhall Gardens scenes
for Bridgerton was just one of the most transporting and
remarkable nights of my life.
I'm Hannah Greig, Professor of history and a consultant to film
and television.
The gardens were just absolutely packed with supporting artists.
It was full of colour and noise and drama.
We had music and fireworks.
There was dancing and you could get a sense of what it was like
to be at a public pleasure garden in the 18th century.
How thrilling and new, as if something incredible was just
about to happen that night.
I've always loved that sense of a closeness to the past, of
visiting historic houses and thinking about who lived there
or who visited there, who those ghosts were, what their stories
were like, were they people like me or not, what were their lives
like.
And much of my academic historical research is based in
archives, dealing with letters and diaries.
It can sometimes feel slightly removed from the actual
environments and locations and places.
And then when I'm filming, it does almost feel like you're
transplanted back into a different era.
And it's exciting to see those locations brought to life in a
way that's similar to the way in which they would have been
experienced in the past.
GRAHAM ALDERTON: Ok, well, if we all go up these steps, I'll
introduce you to our showstopper.
JAMES GRASBY: We're walking up really quite a steep flight of
gravel steps. And there's a pristine, perfect line on the
horizon. Could be a cliff edge that you're leading me to.
What an absolutely sensational view. This is a great vantage
point. And in front of us is your garden.
GRAHAM ALDERTON: It is.
JAMES GRASBY: Falling away down to the sparkly lake in the
spring light is a series of terraces. We're above the
amphitheatre.
This is a terrific sight, isn't it? And very unexpected. Wow.
Rebecca, it feels a bit like being in the upper circle of a
huge theatre, doesn't it?
REBECCA WALLACE: This is the prime view as you came from the
house to see what you could go and explore.
You can just tantalisingly see the island and the lake as it
curves round and the paths that would take you across. But also
really important to think about the wider views.
Behind us, we've got amazing views of London, but also down
into Surrey and to the other estates as well.
So you are getting some of the prime views, not only of this
garden, but also of the neighbourhood and what else was
going on.
So it was a real vantage point. You're absolutely right, that
point about the upper circle, this was the prime spot to be
in.
JAMES GRASBY: You could keep an eye on developing relationships
between new lovers.
REBECCA WALLACE: Who's crossing the bridge together? Who's
sailing on the lake? Who's maybe tucking themselves around a
corner into an avenue of trees to make sure that they're not
seen?
JAMES GRASBY: Rebecca, it's a place designed for pleasure and
parties. The Fête champêtre sounds stunning, and of course
it would be a lovely thing to do it again.
I mean, when was the last time a Fête champêtre happened here?
REBECCA WALLACE: About 20 years ago.
But actually, it was about 200 years before that that they
probably stopped happening.
So after the Duke and Duchess Of Newcastle sell the property,
after a succession of owners, it then becomes owned by the royal
family.
Princess Charlotte and Leopold live here. Just behind me,
actually, at the top of the amphitheatre, we have the
remains, the foundations of a monument to Princess Charlotte.
They were much celebrated, both as a couple, but particularly
her as the only legitimate daughter of George IV The King.
Her husband, Prince Leopold, erected a monument after her
death, aged just 21, in childbirth in 1817.
When she died, there was a public outpouring of grief.
People were absolutely devastated for her and for the
family. And so Leopold used a tea house structure to allow
people to grieve and himself to grieve her.
And it was really that moment that shifted people's
perceptions of Claremont.
And we see a period of time where the idea of partying here
is not a priority.
Royal families do live here and they do entertain, but not on
the scale that we'd seen before.
It was only after a period of renovation in the 20th century
by the National Trust that the idea came to the Trust to
celebrate this transformation of the garden with a series of Fête
champêtres.
That's not to say that the type of Fête champêtress didn't
happen elsewhere in the country at other great gardens. And
indeed, today they continue.
Lots of country houses now will make a second income by hosting
these amazing festivals, which are in many ways the modern day
equivalent of a Fête champêtre.
JAMES GRASBY: And there's a very, very real appetite here
for increasingly giving pleasure and fun to visitors.
REBECCA WALLACE: Absolutely. And I don't know if you noticed at
the start when we met with the boats, the boats are all named
after the royal family.
JAMES GRASBY: Of course they are.
REBECCA WALLACE: And so they are boats that, you know, people can
enjoy on the lake. So it's tying that back into the history of
the place, but also allowing people to enjoy the fun, the
leisure, the pleasure of this garden.
JAMES GRASBY: As I reluctantly head back to my car ahead of my
journey home, I'm wondering whether I'll get back in time to
squeeze in another episode of Bridgerton before I go to bed.
That's the trouble with box sets! They are moreish!
But having seen Claremont and all its beautiful features, and
hearing how they would have been used for the ultimate garden
party, it does make me wish we could travel back in time and
experience a period in history for ourselves, to see what it
was really like, even just for one day.
Now, when I visit wonderful gardens and admire them for the
vistas, the architectural features, the winding footpaths,
those secret corners and shaded walkways, I shall imagine the
setting as the backdrop to a great party, a Buckingham Palace
Garden Party meeting Glastonbury.
And as I'm watching the next episode of Bridgerton, I shall
look past the lavish costumes and the dancing and the scandal
a little and pay more attention to another star of the show, the
setting.
Thanks for listening to the National Trust podcast. And
remember, if you've enjoyed this episode, you can find more audio
programmes from the National Trust at
nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts. We'll be back soon with another
episode. But for now, from me, James Grasby, goodbye.
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