Orpheus at Boughton de Kim Wilkie |
Boughton is one of the greatest formal landscapes of England. The evolution of the gardens during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries created a strong but complex structure of canals, basins, avenues and features such as the great Mount. Ralph Montagu’s initial vision of axial formality has remained as the central theme. It is a garden of land and water; avenues and vistas; rhythm and reflection.
The current Duke of Buccleuch has begun the massive task of restoring the gardens and commissioned a new feature on the empty space opposite the great Mount.
The proposal is to make a space that emphasizes the scale and mass of the great earthwork, to create an Orphean Hades to complement the Olympian Mount.
An inverted grass pyramid descends seven metres below the level of the restored terraces. Walking around the landscape, the new design is invisible, but drawing near to the Mount, a gentle grass path spirals down to a square pool of still water deep underground. The water reflects the sky, a little like an inverted James Turrell occulus.
The earthwork is named after Orpheus to celebrate its descending form and as a place for music and contemplation. When Orpheus’ wife, Eurydice, was killed by the bite of a serpent, he went down to the underworld to bring her back. His songs were so beautiful that Hades finally agreed to allow Eurydice to return to the world of the living
.Read more:http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/boughton_house_garden
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