The Tijou Gates ... and Holland on my Mind

You may remember that in the early Summer I posted about the wonderful Tijou Gates at Hampton Court,- twelve huge wrought iron panels designed by the celebrated craftsman Jean Tijou in 1690.

After a pretty chequered career, they ended up in King Willliam of Orange's privy garden.  And when I passed on the Thames Path, I was dismayed at what a mess they looked. Ugly guard-fence, weird and tatty paint scheme..
.

So I asked Historic Royal Palaces what was going on, and after a long wait, have now had a detailed reply.
I promised I would post an update, and so here it is.  They said:
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"In 1702 the panels and rails were painted grey and were later seen to have been gilded. This finish has been faithfully reproduced in previous restoration projects. The screens are not painted at random. There is a deliberate painting scheme in place. The railings and 5 of the screens are the original grey colour. 6 are gilded. The black one has been painted in the past but not completely stripped and therefore holds the most evidence to understanding the previous painting schemes. We intend to take this away for further analysis later this year so we can gain the best understanding on the painting of the Tijou.

"The security measures were put in place following a series of vandalism from the Thames path. In 2002 we placed cameras on the main palace that pick up the screens and live pictures are streamed back to the control room. This has helped our security know when someone is tampering with the screens but all too often by the time they got round there the damage had been done. Hence why we had to place a barrier between the screens and the Thames Path as a further deterrent.

"This is the start of an ongoing project and as an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces is currently raising money through donations for £1million to help us with this project, if you are able to mention
this it would greatly help our plight."
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So there you are. They're doing their best, although I still think someone has lost sight of the big picture- that these gates are supposed to be beautiful and impressive, not historically authentic vandal-proof artefacts.  (Oh, but check out the Historic Royal Palaces website - lots of fabulous stuff and I can very much recommend the Enchanted Palace exhiibition which features really cutting edge exhibition design and extraordinary, creative ideas. )

To get back to King William ... he was was Dutch, as was his wife, Mary, and both of them were very keen gardeners - the Dutch have historically loved flowers. 

And I have had Holland on the brain today, having just booked some parking in Amsterdam on a Dutch website, with no English translation. I don't speak a word of Dutch, so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. Parking is just as much of a nightmare in Amsterdam as it in London, and prices for anywhere central are eye watering. This garage is only twenty euros a day.   It's about a kilometre's walk from the hotel, but hey, I won't be using the car while I'm in the city, and it means I don't have to use the Park and Ride and trek to and from the suburbs.

At least, I hope not. I won't be entirely sure I've made a big success of this parking booking until I've (a) got in and (b) got out, without problems.

I have been less successful in trying to find a book about Holland that will interest kids. I think it's good for children to know a bit about places they're going to visit.  I haven't been able to find a single one, and in fact there are very, very few books anywhere about other countries. I wonder why.

Still,  I found that video of "A Mouse Lived in A Windmill"  which must date from at least the 1960s and looks as if it was shot in the pouring rain.... children do like the song, though, and there must be many adults who have fond memories of singing it at school. 

Helping Wildlife with the Whitley Awards

The Whitley Awards for nature conservation have been running for a while.
I approve of it because many of their awards go to people in third world countries who are working hard to conserve wildlife and local communities even though their countries are so poor. (Yeah, makes you think twice about buying Tesco cheapies rather than paying a few pennies more for conservation-friendly produce..... )

MOUNTAIN GORILLAS

One of the shortlisted candidates is Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, who is into mountain gorillas. She became a wildlife advocate as a teenager in Kampala and started a wildlife club at her school. At 25 she became Uganda's first wildlife veterinary officer.

She discovered that the gorillas could cross-infect people and her group began working with local communities to galvanise them to adopt better health and hygiene, and roping them in to help with surveys and monitoring.

SURVIVAL OF THE PLANET

The survival of our planet depends on people like this, working away in their various corners of the globe.

Anyway check out the Whitley Fund for Nature website http://www.whitleyaward.org/ and see more for yourself.