Talk by Christopher Woodward - The Swimming Pool Garden

Join us for a talk by Christopher Woodward on The Swimming Pool Garden at the beautiful Italian Garden at Great Ambrook !
Christopher Woodward explores the history of swimming pools as features in the design of private gardens from the 17th-century until 1939. He will situate the astonishing pool in the garden at Great Ambrook in the rich history of swimming pools in Great Britain, discussing candidates for the earliest swimming pool in Britain, and the distinction between cold bath and swimming pool in the Georgian age; public swimming pools became a phenomenon of the Victorian city but it was not until the Edwardian age that country house gardens gave centre stage to the pool as an ornamental feature. The 1920s and ‘30s were the Golden Age of the swimming pool, owing to a heady cocktail of Hollywood movies and Country Life magazine, chlorinated water and elasticated swimsuit – and for the first time men and women swimming together in a fashionable new sport.
Christopher Woodward is the Director of the Garden Museum in London. His books include In Ruins, on ruined buildings, and he recently swam 100km in the Peloponnese islands for charity.

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• Next month, 27th July, 11:00 am, Guided Tree Tour in Newton Abbot

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