Owner’s Story: A Piece of Kew at Home

The Kew Victoria garden room takes pride of place in Jan’s expansive lawned garden, fringed with mature trees.

Jan lives in a beautiful part of the Oxfordshire countryside – only a stone’s throw from the duck pond used to film the scene in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where Truly Scrumptious veers off the road to avoid Jeremy and Jemima.

This garden retreat makes the perfect outdoor reading room or a place to enjoy a glass of after dinner bubbly with friends. By far Jan’s favourite thing to do there is watch the sun as it sets with a cup of tea in hand.

The garden wraps around the house and basks in the evening sun. On our Install Team’s advice, Jan agreed to have the Kew Victoria set at an angle to make the most of the views of the garden back towards the house. The added benefit is that the summerhouse looks even more inviting when viewed from the kitchen window.

Jan has dressed the interior in elegant simplicity. An accent sofa in a bird and botanical print upholstery makes a real statement. By draping a green throw over the arm Jan has introduced colour into the otherwise neutral scheme.

Malvern Garden Buildings visits Jan who owns a Kew Victoria garden room. Owner's Story for Garden Escape

A pair of wicker chairs and a blanket box add texture to the warm, natural palette.  A foldable Butler’s tray table is a practical addition to rest a selection of reading books.

Electricity was run from the house to Jan’s Kew Victoria. A stunning chandelier twinkles as the light fades and makes reading into the small hours possible. Remarkably, it was the longest cable the installers had ever laid!

Jan loves visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, so when she spotted the Kew Victoria being installed in the Secluded Garden one day, she had to find out where it was from.

Some months later on a visit to Toad Hall Garden Centre with a friend Jan saw a Kew Victoria on display at the Malvern Garden Buildings showsite in Henley-on-Thames and knew she had to have it!

Malvern Garden Buildings visits Jan who owns a Kew Victoria garden room. Owner's Story for Garden Escape

From time to time, the luxury garden buildings on show at Malvern Garden Buildings showsites are replaced to keep the displays new and exciting. This presents an opportunity to buy a showsite ex-display garden room and make a big saving. Click here if you would like to see our current ex-display offers.

Jan’s Kew garden retreat was one of the very first we developed in the collection and since her installation we have evolved the design to include key features such as the pewter Kew badge and etched windowpane.

Since visiting Jan to take photographs of her building, we have retrofitted these additions to make sure she had the finishing flourishes that helps to make the Kew Collection so special.

Malvern Garden Buildings visits Jan who owns a Kew Victoria garden room. Owner's Story for Garden Escape

Our Kew Victoria garden room is one of a collection of garden retreats created in a unique partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens.

This particular summerhouse was inspired by the follies and ornamental buildings designed by Sir William Chambers at a time when the gardens in Kew were a royal pleasure ground.

View the whole Kew Collection here.

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