A Horticultural Odyssey: A Sponsored Swim of 63 miles in the Peloponnese for Lambeth Green - Garden Museum

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    A Horticultural Odyssey: A Sponsored Swim of 63 miles in the Peloponnese for Lambeth Green

    Starting 7 October 2024, Garden Museum Director Christopher Woodward will attempt to swim 100km (63 miles) in the Peloponnese islands of Greece in support of our next major project: to transform 5.3 acres adjacent to the Museum into a new public park in central London, named Lambeth Green.

    The new park is being created in partnership with Lambeth Council and Transport for London, who own the land. The landscaping will be designed by Dan Pearson, and opposite Lambeth Bridge a new pavilion designed by architect Mary Duggan will be used by our gardeners and volunteers to maintain the new park, and to offer horticultural apprenticeships for young Londoners. We will plant more than 40 trees, inspired by John Tradescant’s arboretum of rarities.

    We need to raise £250,000 to enable us to begin building Lambeth Green and make a new park for London, and have raised over £153,000 so far. 

    Please contact Andrea Duerr, Development Manager, to make a donation: andrea@gardenmuseum.org.uk. Or click to donate below.

    Donate to the Sponsored Swim
    Christpher Woodward swimming in the Arctic Circle in 2017. Photo by Swimquest

    A Horticultural Odyssey

    Arbutus unedo from Sibthorp's Flora Graeca (1806-1840), illustrated by Ferdinand Bauer © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

    Plantings in Lambeth Green have been chosen by Dan Pearson Studio for a naturalistic style, showcasing hardy, climate resilient perennials. Species will include plants which grow on the islands Christopher will swim to: a pomegranate from Hydra, the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) which is native on Poros, and the chasteberry (Vitex agnus-castus) a shrub which grows wild on the shores of Aegina.

    This sponsored swim is inspired by plants, and how we green cities in the duress of climate change. It will be in the footsteps of the botanist John Sibthorp (1758 – 1796) and his artist Ferdinand Bauer (1760 – 1826), whose Flora Graeca became one of the most beautiful botanical works ever published.

    Some of Bauer’s watercolours were engraved for publication by James Sowerby the artist who was buried in St Mary’s, Lambeth (now the Museum) and who is one inspiration to Dan Pearson’s design.

    This will be Christopher’s sixth sponsored swim for the Garden Museum. Each has been inspired by one of the museum’s stories: The Strait of Gibraltar and The Arctic Circle by John Tradescant’s journeys in search of plants. The River Thames from Oxford to London retraced (in the opposite direction) the journey of Tradescant’s Ark from London to Oxford in 1683. The most recent, from Newlyn to Tresco, followed the journey of another Garden Museum hero, Cedric Morris. That raised £519,627 to save the Garden Museum during the pandemic, an astonishing number for which we must thank supporters for ever.

    This swim will be 63 miles, three English Channels – or the distance from the museum to Portsmouth, or Ipswich. It will take several days, not least because swimming in the open sea is also a challenge of tides and current, weather and waves.

    Please contact Andrea Duerr, Development Manager, to make a donation: andrea@gardenmuseum.org.uk. Or click to donate below.

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    • Christopher's swim route, with horticultural stops in Hydra, Poros and Aegina along the way

    • Lambeth Green Phase 2: The new garden scheduled for installation this winter. Illustration by Dan Pearson Studio

    • Phase 3: Lambeth Green CGI by Secchi Smith

    • Phase 3: Lambeth Green CGI by 3Daudacity

    • Current Lambeth Green pavilion design by Mary Duggan Architects

    • 2018 Masterplan by Dan Pearson Studio

    • Phase 1 of Lambeth Green has been completed: the new Healing Garden is developing in Old Paradise Gardens

    • A community workshop in the Healing Garden, summer 2024

    • A community workshop in the Healing Garden, summer 2024

    • View of proposed Lambeth Green area from above

    Lambeth Green

    The new park and pavilion at Lambeth Green will enable us to offer young Londoners to undertake apprenticeships in horticulture. Britain offers the best horticultural training in the world – but not if you grow up in the neighbourhood of the Garden Museum. There is nowhere in Lambeth for any of more than 1000 people who leave school each year to qualify as gardeners. The apprentices’ week will be divided between hands-on experience based at the new pavilion and theory classes at Capel Manor.

    The ambition is also to raise funds to Endow the future upkeep of the new park. ‘Upkeep’ is not a glamorous word – but gardeners understand!

    The park will also supply our learning team with plants for biology classes (the museum has built the only facility in central London for formal biology classes from ages 4 to 18) and for our food learning programme, the first in any museum. In 2023, we hosted over 150 school visits, learning and community sessions at the museum.

    Lambeth Green will be a green and accessible gateway not just to the museum but to the borough. This new park entrance will create better access to the museum for people with disabilities: the museum itself is fully accessible, but approaches to it are currently not. We must change this.

    We have been working on the Lambeth Green master-plan for five years and last year completed Phase 1: a community Healing Garden on Lambeth High Street, just across the road from the Museum, with a grant of £50,000 from a family Trust. For this next phase design work has been made possible by funding from the Henry Oldfield Trust, The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Rick Mather and David Scrase Foundation, and the Swire Trust.

    The target for the Swim is £250,000 to enable us to continue to the next stage; this coming spring we have the chance to plant up new gardens on 300 square metres of land which is owned by TfL and which is currently road, kerb, and pavement.

    It is a privilege to make a new park for London, and one which has the charm and intimacy of the best private garden – but for everyone. This site is one of the most pivotal in London, facing Lambeth Palace and Parliament and reaching out to neighbourhoods of social housing. This swim is to bring flowers and trees to the city.

    FAQs

    What is Lambeth Green?

    Lambeth Green is our project to transform 5.3 acres of adjacent to the Garden Museum into a series of interconnected public green spaces. The new landscape has been designed by Dan Pearson Studio, one of the world’s leading garden design practices. Phase 1 was completed in 2023: a new healing and community garden in Old Paradise Gardens, just across the road. (Please have a look: it is open to all and beautiful).

    Phase 2 could take place this winter: Transport for London are re-shaping the Lambeth Bridge junction and 300 square metres of what is now road and hard surfacing will become garden and trees.

    Phase 3 will be the re-design of St Mary’s Gardens (the triangle of land next to the churchyard) to be a new garden with at the entrance a new single-storey pavilion, designed by Mary Duggan Architects. This will also be a new entrance to the Museum. The Museum itself is fully accessible to people with wheelchairs but the approach across public land is not.

    Phase 4 may be several years away but it is to re-landscape the green areas on the banks of the Thames as a place for people to gather, and cross to the Museum.

    The ward in which the Museum sits has the fewest trees of any ward in Lambeth, and the scheme includes planting more than 40 trees over the next three years. This will be inspired by John Tradescant’s arboretum in his garden in the 17th century – but this will be a public arboretum of rarities.

    What is the building for?

    The building is necessary in order to maintain the new gardens. There will be a shed, a room for volunteers, and a training centre for apprentices.

    Mary Duggan Architects won an open competition in partnership with the Architects’ Journal. Her design recycles old, demolished London buildings (architectural salvage), first crushing them before forming new terrazzo walls in a soft pink colour. These ornamental walls will wrap around the outer edge of Lambeth Green, with niches and apertures for plants and insects to inhabit – a modern take on the “crinkle crankle” wall.

    Does the Museum own the land?

    No, Lambeth Council own the land. We will have a 25-year agreement to reflect the Museum’s fund-raising and investment of time and skill.

    Is planning permission required?

    Planning permission for the garden and pavilion was granted by Lambeth councillors on 1 October 2024, following listed building consent being granted for the opening in the historic wall on 23 July 2024.

    Will it be private?

    No. The site will continue to be open 24 hours a day, and everyone will be welcome. However, our consultation showed that what many of our neighbours would value is an intimate, secluded and quiet space.

    What will it cost? If I donate where will my donation go?

    Phases 2 and 3 will cost over £3 million, of which we have received £236,000 in donations so far.

    The Swim appeal is urgent because we need £250,000 to (i) plant up the 300 sq m of new gardens and 15 trees opposite Lambeth Bridge this winter made available by TfL (ii) seed funding to progress the project as a whole to the level of detail at which we can approach Trusts and Foundations who can grant even bigger sums.

    What will be planted in the garden?

    The garden which is currently St Mary’s Gardens, designed by Dan Pearson Studio, will be planted in a naturalistic style, showcasing hardy,  climate resilient perennials. There will be 11 new trees, including persimmons (diospyros kaki), pomegranate (punica granatum), and madrone (arbutus menziesii). Alongside the trees, there will be a range of 21 shrubs, such as strawberry trees (arbutus unedo), caspicas (Elaeagnus angustifolia), and caerulea (santolina rosmarinifolia). There will be 93 species of perennials planted within the garden; 50 sun tolerant, and 43 shade tolerant.

    Why Traineeships?

    There is no horticultural training available in Lambeth, our Borough, although over 1,000 people turn 16 each year. We will provide 2 apprenticeships per year, in partnership with Capel Manor College, with the week divided between practical training in Lambeth Green and theory in the College classroom. In our ward more than 70% of homes do not have access to a private garden. These will be the gardeners of the future.