Walk in the Chiswick House Conservatory & Italian Gardens

When the Conservatory at Chiswick House was completed for the 6th Duke of Devonshire in 1813, it was the longest such structure ever built at 302ft. Designed by Samuel Ware, the architect known for his work on the Burlington Arcade and Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy, the Conservatory was supplemented with an Italian Garden in 1814


In 1828, the Conservatory was planted with the camellias and amazingly a number of the plants still exist today, making it the oldest such collection in England, including rare plants such as the ‘Middlemist Red’, which is found in only one other place in the world. Having been rebuilt in the 1930s, the Conservatory had started to fall into disrepair, but has recently been restored thanks to the work of the Chiswick House and Gardens Trust.

For more, see http://www.chgt.org.uk/?PageID=167