A few weeks ago, I suddenly realised that my older son, David, was working in Letchworth…
THE Letchworth, Letchworth Garden City – the first Garden City to be built in the UK. A flurry of activity later and I arranged a road trip: A site visit For a project in Luton, a ‘busman’s holiday’ day out with David, exploring Letchworth Garden City and finally, a visit to Norwich to pick up some new wings for my 35 year old Toyota Sera which is having very necessary bodywork done and will then be re-painted, the same purple, of course!
The idea of Garden Cities in the UK was proposed and championed by Ebenezer Howard in his book, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform 1898 and later republished as Garden Cities of To-morrow, in1902.
His proposals were based on an idea to bring together elements of both Town and Country, to provide residents with Industry, Housing and Parks and Countryside. Architects Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker won a competition to design the layout of the town. Their planning and the support of the project by the Arts and Crafts movement are very much in evidence.
“The Three Magnets” diagram in the First Garden City Museum
© Copyright Jim Osley and licensed for reuse under Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
CC BY-SA 2.0.
Our whistlestop tour of Letchworth Garden City started with a coffee in the lounge of the Broadway Hotel, located on Broadway. I was able to share the little knowledge I had, with David and he was very impressed with the fact that Ebenezer Howard was neither an architect nor a planner but was still able to bring this project to fruition.
Apparently, the alignment of the Garden Village was taken from three old Oak trees in the central plateau of the estate which had been purchased to create it. The area around the oaks became the central square and Broadway was an extension of the main axis of the square.
We wandered down Broadway towards the central square but were unable to take photographs looking towards the square, because there was a funfair in place at that time. We moved around the funfair and were able to see more of the layout.
Photo looking back from Broadway Gardens, towards the part of Broadway, with a wide central walkway for pedestrians down the middle and shopping area on the right.
Having walked through Broadway Gardens, admiring the formal layout and the large, pruned trees and the fairly recent fountain, we walked on, to the UK’s first roundabout at Sollershott Circus.
I was very interested in the planting and wondered if it was the original planting (perhaps replanted). A little research showed that the planting had changed several times over the years, but that doesn’t deflect from my appreciation of the current planting, which is such a pleasant change from the seasonal bedding schemes which are still so prevalent.
I was fascinated by the housing, civic and commercial buildings which show an obvious influence from the Arts and Crafts movement.
We wandered back towards the shopping area, following a sign to The International Garden Cities Exhibition, which was unfortunately closed. However, having taken that route, we ended up in Howard Park and Gardens, complete with bowling green and hut in a vernacular style.
Hidden under a canopy of mature trees were playground areas, with sand, rather than bark or rubber matting. It was very much in keeping with the informality of the park which began its life as woodland within the town.
It’s quite an unusual base material for an urban park and I did wonder if, unfortunately, it was popular with local cats too. As a visitor, I appreciated the interpretive board, explaining some of the development of the park.
We were intrigued by the numerous bronze plaques set into the paths with an inscription “1903 Howard Park and Gardens 2011”. Later research revealed that they were created as part of the major restoration project, carried out in 2011, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund.
The restoration included the creation of a paddling pool area, which was being used as a dry play space during our visit. Although we didn’t see the pool in use ourselves, photos online show the fountains and water features looking amazing – we’ll definitely have to go back!
Keith Evans / The Paddling Pool / CC BY-SA 2.0
Continuing our wandering, we ambled along Leys Avenue and discovered the local “Library of Things”. I got really excited (again) because this is something our local Sustainable Northwich/ Transition Northwich group are trying to do. We are actively looking for premises.
If you’ve not come across the idea before, think of exactly a Library of Things – need to mow the lawn? Borrow a lawn mower. Need to drill a few holes? Borrow a drill. Need to run up a dress, or a fancy dress costume? Borrow a sewing machine!
Photo courtesy of https://www.letchworthgardenshed.com/
Heading back towards our starting point, we chose to go down “The Wynd” because there was no traffic and it look interesting. It didn’t disappoint. Shade from the trees on a sunny day and a nice amble looking at the shops. We had a coffee and focaccia from the coffee roastery, Level Ground and then visited Mama Rumba’s Vintage, where I bought a beautiful scarf and a pair of very dangly earrings.
Further up this lovely pedestrian area, we discovered a very busy pocket park where I carefully took a photo with no identifiable children – a feat in itself!
Looking down The Wynd with a portion of the pocket park on the left.
Towards the end of the pedestrian area, our last “find” was The Wynd Community Garden, where volunteers were growing fruit, vegetables and flowers, to encourage people to do the same at home.
I hope you have enjoyed our exploration of Letchworth Garden City as much as we did and I’m sure we’ll be back again!
To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform 1898, later republished as Garden Cities of To-morrow, in1902, Ebenezer Howard
Kenneth Johnson, 1976, The Book of Letchworth
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