Thirza Ember: this week, it would have been the 73rd birthday of John Lennon, so I was looking for a beatles destination for us... the first destination today is the RL garden of George Harrison. It was designed and built by Mudpuddle Cleanslate, I hope you will enjoy it.
Star Ravenhurst: Sounds awesome Thirza
Thirza Ember: you may remember Mudpuddle's other build Pepperland and Pepperland 2... they are also here on Littlefield as is his build for Van Gogh, called Arles.
James atLLOUD: OH yes, very much.
Thirza Ember: he is very particular about the details
SIWAS S: (de:en) I am excited 
Thirza Ember: welcome to Friar Park, this is a real house just outside London. Mudpuddle Cleanslate is a big Beatles fan - he built this; he is a professional at graphic art... as you can see
Star Ravenhurst: Nice entrance!
Thirza Ember: With this entrance, Mudpuddle has captured the fact that the house is located on the edge of a busy town, not hidden away deep in the country... it's part of a living community. George Harrison bought this house in the 70s when he was 27, the house had been quite abandoned. it was first built in the 1880's, it has lots of grottoes, ponds, and special gardens... as you will see
Forest Azure: /me hopes to find a weeping guitar
Thirza Ember: This is an antique formal garden, but George Harrison tried to make it less formal by putting lots of gnomes... they are funny, but also magical
Ayla Alvarez: hi gang
Forest Azure: hi ayla
Tina Bey: hola a todos
Thirza Ember: I wrote a blog about this when he first opened it, if you want to get more of the history https://hgsafari.blogspot.com/2022/07/home-sweet-gnome.html Down the path, you can see George... that's from a rl photo of him in this garden
James atLLOUD: looking..
Forest Azure: in the rain?
Thirza Ember: this house was also George Harrison's recording studio, he really loved living here and hated to have to leave the grounds this was his place of sanity sadly though, it was here where an intruder attacked him, in the house one night, and really after that he did not live very long
James atLLOUD: OH!
Thirza Ember: when Mud finished this build, I believe he contacted George Harrison's wife Olivia and son Dahni about the build
lifted pixel: did they come check it out??
Thirza Ember: I don't know if he got an answer, but I hope they got to see it, it's in many respects just like the rl garden... but with more gnomes and virtual touches!
Xirana Oximoxi: hello everyone! :)
lifted pixel: even if they didn't i'm sure knowing it exists would put a smile on some faces
James atLLOUD: aww
Roffellos Kisses: hello Xirana
Thirza Ember: Let's go to the Mattterhorn. No, sorry, first the grotto...
lifted pixel: haha no apologies nessicary!
Yara Eild: German garden gnomes
SIWAS S : i thought garden gnomes only existed in germany lol
Forest Azure: oh no
James atLLOUD: I've approached some local sculptors who I think would translate well into Opensim, but they sometimes just don't get it.
lifted pixel: haha we love 'em in the states
Thirza Ember: the man who originally built this garden, Sir Frank Crisp, was the person who brought Gnomes to England and made them popular
SIWAS S: omg thats a great business lol
James atLLOUD: Oh so many gnomes in my area! My mother has ... 6?
Thirza Ember: this garden friar park was open to the public and this was pretty much the first place where people in England got to know about gnomes
Forest Azure: and he sits
James atLLOUD: OH yes, a good sit.
Thirza Ember: let's jump to the mountain, walking and typing is too much for me... the original "Matterhorn" built by Frank Crisp was Britain's biggest rockery... Mudpuddle has made this virtual version a bit more like Petra, with an oriental twist... Buddhism and all kinds of spiritual beliefs filled George's life.
There is an inviting doorway here. that has an unexpected consequence if you step through it...
Tina Bey: uhh
James atLLOUD: .. mind the gap!
Thirza Ember: I should have warned you about that ahahaha...sorry anyone who got thrown out I'll jump to the next part... this is the Japanese part of the garden...
Mal Burns: biggest paddling pool ever ...littlefield - big gardens!
James atLLOUD: and so many trees!
Forest Azure: strawberry fields forever
Thirza Ember: yes! but not every part is all perfect grass and flowers... let's go into the woods
Forest Azure: /me hides behind a tree
Thirza Ember: this is a classic feature of landscape architecture theory, going back to the Renaissance. You have the man-made paradise, where all plants are controlled and ordered...'civilized'... and then you have the wilderness, where apparently nature is in charge... and the forces of the earth
Ayla Alvarez: its a maze, full of spiders and things
Forest Azure: but what scared you?
Thirza Ember: the freaking spider... i had night set and was in mouselook... all alone in a nice english garden and OMG
Ayla Alvarez: grins
lifted pixel: SPIDER
Forest Azure: well, you can always call
Ayla Alvarez: looks out of order
Forest Azure: oh?
Thirza Ember: i think it is an allegory about the need to communicate
Forest Azure: /me tries it... you need to shout here
Ayla Alvarez: if it were only Dr Who
James atLLOUD: yes - first thought - the good Doctor
Forest Azure: yes! great music here
Thirza Ember: i really didn't know much about George Harrison before I wrote about this place, he seems like he was a really lovely person
Forest Azure: i was in love with him as a teenager
Thirza Ember: aww
Ayla Alvarez: he had a falling out with Paul and John b/c they didn't want to play his music, I saw him on the Dick Cavet show once, he looked very sad.
Thirza Ember: This is another classic element.... the mushroom fairy ring. I think also in German folklore, these have a mystical meaning
Tosha Tyran: they are called witch circle
Thirza Ember: the park as a food factory - again, it's like a little encyclopedia of human's interaction with the landscape... in this case, a reminder that if we do not look after the planet, she will stop feeding us
Forest Azure: no strawberries, but it is a great garden
James atLLOUD: Good sheep riding there!
Lucy Afarensis: Amazing !!!
Ayla Alvarez: oh, look...little bo peep
lifted pixel: haha i'm stunned by the beauty i can't put it into words
Mal Burns: what a great build Thirza
Thirza Ember: i really do love it.
lifted pixel: it's a solid build with a lot of details, def work several trips
James atLLOUD: agreed
Thirza Ember: i have for sure missed many of the grottoes, they are hard to find
Forest Azure: /me has a chat with the scarecrow he says, it surely is a great build!
Star Ravenhurst: Careful Forest. He has no brains.
Tina Bey: Does anyone have cream? A wasp stung me here in the garden!
James atLLOUD: Some bee stings can be deadly!
Star Ravenhurst: This whole build is stunning!
Thirza Ember: over here... is the scary part, since we are nearly at halloween, you're supposed to put midnight of course
James atLLOUD: of course! creatures of the night and all
Tina Bey: ohhhh
SIWAS S: huhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
lifted pixel: yeah that doesn't look good, walking face first into a spider web is the worst
Tina Bey: ahhh
SIWAS S: you drafts with the cobwebs not in the house today, lol
Thirza Ember: there is a ride in the ballooon also
Alex Salamander: where is the yellow submarine?
Thirza Ember: On Pepperland region Alex! If you have not seen it you can jump over there
Yara Eild: It was all very nice
SIWAS S: very british
Star Ravenhurst: Thirza, do you know the size of the land?
Ayla Alvarez: 60 acres
Star Ravenhurst: That is a lot of land!
lifted pixel: that's pretty big :O
Ayla Alvarez: I know! 60 acres is equivalent to 45 football fields
Thirza Ember: it's not your massive country estate, but it's like a horticultural theme park... on the blog post, there is a picture of the garden as it was in 1914. Lots packed into a relatively small space.
Star Ravenhurst: I live on a little over two acres, and that is a good size
Thirza Ember: well, in that part of england, land is worth a great deal so, to have a park where you could have a housing development... luckily some people just love to preserve old buildings and bring them to life, and the law protects those buildings ... I love this quote by George, about Friar Park
"Sometimes I feel like I'm actually on the wrong planet,
and it's great when I'm in my garden.
But the minute I go out the gate I think:
'What the hell am I doing here?'
Star Ravenhurst: I feel the same way when I leave my house. This build is beautiful.
Thirza Ember: I hope you put it on your list of places to return to
Lucy Afarensis: Indeed
Roffellos Kisses: `this is a really lovely creation
Whirli Placebo: what a thoroughly lovely tour, Thirza!
Star Ravenhurst: I enjoyed this so much. Thank you.
HG Address: lfgrid.org:8002:All Things Must Pass
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ReplyDeleteLovely post about a lovely place!
ReplyDeleteHere some additional informations to the mansion:
The neogothic house has three floors with twenty-five bedrooms - all in all it counts 200 rooms, which include a ballroom, a drawing room, a dining room, a library, a huge kitchen and hall, intricate carvings, formal gardens of ten or twelve acres, and a further twenty acres of land. There were two lodges and a gatehouse.
In early 1972, Harrison installed a 16-track tape-based recording studio in a guest suite, which, at one point, was superior to the one at EMI's Abbey Road Studios.