The Topograph
It has become the custom after the Friends coffee mornings for the Friends’ guides to lead walks in the Garden.
The usual instruction is to gather by the map, which is at the far end of the platform at the top of the steps that lead into The Garden. This type of map, which is depictive, rather than completely geographically accurate, is more correctly known as a Topograph, which indicates the distance and direction of notable features. There is an excellent view over the Garden from there, making it ideally placed.
This Topograph was the work of Daphne Fido, a former Friend, and was given by the Friends of The Savill Garden to mark the Millenium. It was unveiled by the Deputy Ranger, Philip Everett, at the Friends Summer Buffet that year.
The topograph of The Savill Garden
The Golden Jubilee Garden
In 2002 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne.
To celebrate this a modern representation of a cottage garden was designed by Barbara Hunt, with a planting scheme devised by the then Head of The Savill Garden, Lynn Randall. This included plants such as lavender, clematis, geraniums and daisies, with plants such as thistles and delphiniums to give height.
The design included plenty of seating for visitors to sit and enjoy the scent and tranquillity of the Garden; which were provided by the Friends with a donation of £6000.
A wooden bench in the Golden Jubilee Garden
Elizabeth II opened the Golden Jubilee Garden on 6 July 2002.
Four years later in 2014, the Friends made a donation towards the cost of the obelisks for the Golden Jubilee Garden, again helping to add height and interest to the borders.
In Spring 2015, Harvey Stephens who was then Head of The Savill Garden wrote a piece about the Golden Jubilee Garden for the Friends of Savill Garden newsletter:
‘Having commissioned the blacksmith Peter Neale to design and build the entrance gates back in 2012, Mark Flanagan, Keeper of the Gardens, and I thought it prudent to invite Peter back to construct the new obelisks………We plan to clothe the obelisks with roses and clematis.’
An obelisk in the Golden Jubilee Garden
The Friends Plaque
As previously described, the Great Storm of 1987 caused considerable damage to Windsor Great Park and Forest, and in particular The Savill Garden.
Casualties included many of a grove of mature beech trees, with a dense carpet of moss beneath, which were just to one side of what used to be the entrance to the Gardens.
Plans were drawn up for the building of a new Visitor Centre and entrance to the Garden. The building was designed by Glenn Howells Architects and was built using timber sourced from The Crown Estate. The Guardian described it as ‘The building that grew itself’.
The roof of The Savill Garden Visitor Centre
The Savill Garden Visitor Centre under construction
The Savill Garden Visitor Centre was officially opened by The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 26 June 2006.
To commemorate the occasion the Friends of The Savill Garden commissioned a plaque giving the distances to notable features in Windsor Great Park, which was installed in the pavement below the Topograph. Look down next time you visit the Garden.
The Savill Garden plaque and Visitor Centre
Information signage for the New Zealand Garden
Following the opening of the new Savill Garden Visitor Centre, the old building was demolished, and the area was redeveloped. Part of the area became what we now know as the Lawns and part was used for another project, the New Zealand Garden.
In 1986, Elizabeth II made a state visit to New Zealand. The Government of New Zealand gifted her with a collection of native plants for display in The Savill Garden. Many of these plants were tender and had to be kept in pots, but the clearing of the old entrance to the Garden gave the opportunity for it to be landscaped and the hardier plants to be displayed.
The New Zealand landscape Architect Sam Martin provided the design, and the New Zealand Garden was opened in April 2007.
The Friends provided interpretation boards for the New Zealand Garden, intended to give an insight into the planting. Sadly, over 25 years of rain and sunshine were not kind to the signs and they were removed recently during an ongoing renovation and replanting of the area. Do make sure to visit it this year and see the beautiful transformation.
Benches in the Rose Garden
Many of us will have fond memories of the rose beds near to Spring Wood, which were planted in the 1950s. Surprisingly, before that there were no roses in The Savill Garden at all.
The rose beds proved popular with visitors and the decision was made to create a rose garden with the emphasis on scent and colour. This Rose Garden was designed by Andrew Wilson who felt that a walkway rising above the garden would provide a different perspective. The walkway determined the shape of the garden which evolved to look like a rose flower. The clever incorporation of grasses into the design emphasizes the swirling effect.
The walkway has proved popular with visitors, old and young, not least because of its resemblance to the ‘prow of the Titanic’ from the 1997 film of the same name.
The Rose Garden was opened in 2010 by Elizabeth II. The Friends provided the benches to celebrate 25 years of the Friends at a cost of £9500, on which one can sit on a warm summer’s day and soak in the scents of the roses.
A bench in the Rose Garden
As Rachel Prior noted in the 2015 Spring newsletter, the Friends have a history of supporting key projects in The Savill Garden and then as now, the most important aspect of the Garden is the team who work there. So, in the AGM notes of 2013, it is noted that the Friends sponsored the travel costs of Matt Lazarczuk, who took part in work experience exchange with the John Morris University Garden in Pennsylvania.
In 2014 Clare Brock took part in the same exchange and in February 2015 she gave an evening lecture to the Friends about her time there.
This article is dedicated to the hard work of the Friends who helped raise the funds for all the items mentioned above. Our grateful thanks to them and to the team at The Savill Garden, and especially to Mark Flanagan who was the Keeper of the Gardens from 1997 to 2015, who kept the Gardens looking beautiful, and for their support of the Friends.
