Figure 1.--Many prep schools have lovely grounds. As many were founded in old manor houses, there are in many cases beautiful formal gardens which in many cases are lovingly maintained by dedicated gardners that have been with the schools for years. |
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Many prep schools have lovely grounds. As many were founded in old manor houses, there are in many cases beautiful formal gardens which in many cases are lovingly maintained by dedicated gardners that have been with the schools for years. The children often take the gardens gfor granted, or at least seem to. It is not always obvious what is going through their active little minds. At the very least the gardens create a wonderful atmopshere which can not help but affect the children. The children tend to take more of an interest in the gardens if a pond is included in the layout. There are normally extensive games fields. As games are an important part of the prep school program, a good bit of the available space is devoted to the games field. And they require a good deal of professional care. Here of course the Eglish weather is a major assett. Of course not all the grounds are carefully manicured and taken care of by the gardener. Of particular interest to the younger children are undeveloped, often wooded areas where they can play. The boys in particular like to build forts and secret hideaways in their free time.
Many prep school children certainly enjoy the spacious grounds afforded by quite a number of schools. Much of the area is often devoted to sports grounds. The delightful gardens may catch their mother's eyes and immaculate cricket pitches impress their fathers' attention. It is, however, the sometimes extensive overgrown, wooded areas that most appeal to the children--especially the younger boys. Many prep schools certainly are set in beautifully landscaped, spacious grounds. It is not unusual for a country boarding school to have grounds comprising 25 acres or more, some have grounds exceeding 100 acres. Often the schools have taken over spacious country homes and the grounds that individuals can no longer afford to maintain. Highfield in Hampshire, for example, is situated on about 170 acres of woodlands and fields. Many schools even have lovely ponds (such as Felsted, Old Buckenham Hall, Streete Court, Walhampton, and other schools) that the children can use for boating practice, fishing, nature study, and other activities. Wide expanses of verdant green grass provide graceful settings for cricket and other sports pitches bordered by impressive stands of stately trees. The sports grounds of course are needed for various games that are an important part of the prep school program.
Prep school grounds often have a park like atmpshere that add to the school enviroment. This varied a great del from school to school. The fact that many schools are old manor houses mean that well designed grounds came with the property, giving it a lovely park-like feel. There are often park benches placed at useful places on the grounds. While the manor house itself often had to be heavily renovated to adopt the rooms to school use, the grounds them selves were just very useful for a school environment. Often the children do not seem to notice the grounfs, but the walk ways, green areas, and gardens add a wonderful atmpshere to the schools. And like any park, there are normally shrubs and flowers that add color to the changing seasons. The children often seem oblivious to such surroundings, but such surroundings can not help but affect the atmpsphere of the schools.
Many prep schools have lovely grounds. As many were founded in old manor houses, there are in many cases beautiful formal gardens. England was of course noted for the fornmal gardens at country houses. Today the gardens at these homes are in many cases lovingly maintained by dedicated gardners that have been with the schools for years. The children often take the gardens for granted, or at least seem to. They provide settings for quiet contemplation or coversations among friends. It is not always obvious what is going through their active little minds. At the very least the gardens create a wonderful atmopshere which can not help but affect the children. The children tend to take more of an interest in the gardens if a pond is included in the layout.
There are normally extensive games fields. As games are an important part of the prep school program, a good bit of the available space is devoted to the games field. And they require a good deal of professional care. Here of course the Eglish weather is a major assett.
Of course not all the grounds are carefully manicured and taken care of by the gardener. Of particular interest to the younger children are undeveloped, often wooded areas where they can play. The boys in particular like to build forts and secret hideaways in their free time. Such areas afford great opportunities for imaginative young minds during free time. Young children appreciate an organized school routein, but they cherish their play time with friends. This is often when close friendships are formed. The woods and fields offer a wealth of possibilities, great climbing trees, streams to get gloriously covered in mud, and hidden recesses to build and fortify dens and tree houses. The children at Hordle House, for example, get endless pleasure from climbing about what they call "Monkey Town". The boys at Old Hall can report in detail about dambusting in the Dingle. At St. Neot's there is "the Rough." The children at most schools from Perot Hill to Hordel House have taken great care to escort us to the farthest, more inacessible area of the grounds where they have built their dens with some pride . Hordle House calls their area "monkey town . "Other schools have their own names. Some enjoy the opportunity for a little all-to-rare solitude, but mostly they offer the opportunity to play with a small group of close mates away from the intrusive eye of adults. Many a small boy will report that his favorite free-time activity is building "forts" and "dens" with his mates and attacking their friends in near by dens.
(Patrick: Do you remember any interesting quotations we can pop in here, perhaps your Perrott. Hill picture with the boot.)
A boy at Bramcote in Nottinghamshire explained, "One day Middleton, my best friend and Eckhardt, Wood, and Thoroggod and myself made a den and we thought it was ever so good, but the next day it just fell down."
One wonders about the impact of stately manor houses and beautiful grounds on the children. One Gloucestershire headmaster insists that such soroundings "cannot fail to have a beneficial influence on a young boy." The younger prep school children seem to take such suroundings for granted, probably assuming that they are nothing out of the ordinary. While the children generally have little to say about the suroundings, one can't help but think that an impact. It would be nice to think that exposure to beautiful grounds and architecture may help develop the child's asetic sence.
Not all preparatory schools are located in rural areas and have spacious grounds. There are many prep schools located in cities, many of which but not all are day schools. This of course is the situation of many urban state schools. These schools vary greatly as to the grounds, depending in part on where in the city they are located. Some have grounds as they were founded before the city expanded around of them. Others havery limited grounds and in some cases no grounds at all. Some may have small paved playgrounds for which can make do for morning break. The later schools without grounds are sometimes able to make do with the grounds of nearby parks for sporting activities. During the day, crocodiles of children move back and forth betweem the school and park for outdoors physical education and sports. Of course this lack of open space does affect the atmosphere of the schools.
