Thursday, June 12, 2008

Lust house

The Vyne estate and 16th century house in Hampshire run by the National Trust has a wonderful summerhouse dating from the early 17th century and thus possibly the earliest domed garden building in England. It was designed by John Webb and built in the shape of a Greek cross, probably as one of a pair planned for the garden, and used as a dovecote, banqueting house and even a 'lust' house (and hopefully an early garden office). Its first floor has now collapsed. I know how it feels.
Photo courtesy of Garden Hopping where you'll find a really nice pictorial tour of the gardens and other delights.

4 comments:

Zoë said...

Psssst.... did you know you were on todays Blogger's Blogs of Note List?

Congratulations!

Regards

Zoë

Sally Pie said...

That is a beautiful garden. So old fashioned and clean cut. Wish I had a big garden.

K.C. said...

Geez, this is beautiful. KC

Alex said...

Yes, it's lovely. It will be interesting to see the summerhouse once it's restored.

Zoe - thank you. It's very kind of them to choose Shedworking (and to keep it up there for several days).