Kenwood: summer, 1968 - part 5.

Having gained access to the house, Cathy went walkabout, as you would. The most striking thing about this latest batch of her pics, is how wild and overgrown the grounds had become during the latter Lennon-era. Compare with the recent Joe Baiardi video (posts passim), which shows everything carefully pruned back; most of the barely managed vegetation was removed in the mid-90s. (I guess, judging by the state of it now, that Kenwood must still have a full time gardener - probably more than one, too.)
I've spoken to someone who grew up in the house in the '80s, and he remembers this lower portion of the garden as being almost completely untamed by that point, a magical place to his friends and him.
He has also been back since, and feels that a good deal of this magical quality that possessed the house and grounds disappeared during the mid-90s renovations, along with the triffid-like flora, the sunroom and the garage.
So it goes.
Anyway, the garden seems to have grown more feral the farther away from the house one got.


The steps are familiar from the 1965 shots...but everything (and I do mean everything) has become a good deal shaggier in the interim:


This pond is a new feature to me; note the ornamental carving. (I have no idea if it is still there, but I gather that the swimming pool has recently been moved back to its original position, and a new ornamental pond sits beneath John's old perch outside the sunroom):


Finally for this lot, a flower garden, somewhere in Kenwood:


I'm running out of ways to say thank you to Cathy and Lizzie. More shots of the garden, and exterior of the house to come.