The Beaulieu Kitchen Garden Fountain was commissioned in 2006 by Mary Montagu-Scott to complete the ornamental vegetable garden at Beaulieu. The garden was laid out in 2002 on the site of an earlier kitchen garden to Palace House. The garden’s traditional four bed design is divided by gravel paths meeting at a central dipping pond.
I wanted to create a feature that blended with its surroundings and I took inspiration from gourds growing in the garden at the time. I wanted something calming and understated and finally settled upon a design consisting of a bronze tripod, wrapped in gourd leaves and populated with garden creatures. My aim was to provide a central focus to the garden and a chance to pause a while amidst the changing seasonal displays.
This work was my introduction to Bronze casting. prior to this piece I had only cast in resin, but I took a short weekend course with David Reid and built my own small ‘foundry on a pallet’ . The rest I learnt on the job. It was an ambitious thing to take on, but I loved every minute.
140 x 130 x 220cm approximate dimensions (w x d x h)
Bronze (Gunmetal) and Peakmoor Sandstone
March 2007
The Fountain in 2007 freshly installed
The Fountain ( and me ) 2022 weathered and patinated
I love the way that the fountain has settled in and the way that nature has claimed a place amongst the stonework. As I took these photographs there was a Robin and a Chaffinch both drinking from the small water trough – wonderful !
visit Beaulieu at www.beaulieu.co.uk
Fountain Details
One of the central thoughts when designing this fountain was that Beaulieu is a family attraction. Hence, the fountain was dotted with an array of wildlife to appeal particularly to children. In a conversation recently with the Head Gardener, Kelvin ( who incidentally was invaluable in helping me to install the fountain in 2007 ), I was delighted to learn that children do indeed delight in searching the fountain for the hidden creatures.
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