Garden in the middle

Written By Gareth M.

The garden in the middle was not known as a chamber number but simply known as the "garden" on the earliest of maps drawn in 1993 with chamber names on it. 

It was located in the middle of the main portion of the Packing House, and seemed to have an old well, or a pond of some description in the middle of it. 

By 1993 when Sheila and Gerard Martland took ownership of the Packing House, it seemed that this space had been used as place to dump rubbish into.

This area seen within the middle of the building, still open to the elements in 1995. (Photo: 1995)

The space itself seemed to have been created throughout the decades of extensions being added to the building and had become something of an open void. 

It being this odd internal garden space meant for a number of years it was one of the few areas of the Packing House (aside from the front door) that could be opened to allow fresh air in, without there being security concerns because…there was no where to go.

A tree had even been planted into the former well in the late 1990s.

By 2003 it had been paved to give Chamber 19 - Packham some additional indoor/outdoor space.

And by 2006 had been roofed in, however as it was a space that was in between the various other existing rooflines of the building there were several existing gutters, not quite internal gutters in the traditional sense, but gutters that were now in an "inside" space. 

At the time this was still alright, were any large rain events to happen as the space remained paved, meaning any inadvertent splashes from the gutters did not affect the internal structure of the building to a great extent.

The Dressmaker. (Photo: 2015-10-15)

In October 2015 as part of a change over of dealers in Chamber 19, this space had base board flooring added to bring it to the same level as Chamber 19, a heater vent was added and carpet was laid. Additional plastic cladding was added to mitigate splashing from the roof and gutters that still surrounded this space.

For a short period during this time a dressmaker operated from this space.

From 2006 to 2019 this space was held by the dealer who was also in the neighbouring Chamber 19 - Packham. From 2006-September 2012 this was Rustic Charm, then 2012-2015 Snook Antiques, July 2015- September 2016 French Heritage Antiques,  October 2016-September 2019 Antique By Design.

Following some time while the neighbouring Chamber 19 was empty or in mixed use this area too was similar mixed use by dealers, then in 2020 Deco Heaven, located in the neighbouring Chamber 18 - Winter Nelis took on this space.

On 7th January 2022 there was a massive storm over Victoria, leading to a lot of the gutters at the Packing House overflowing with major and minor leaks throughout the building.

This area was one of the worst hit because of the gutters surrounding this space, and additionally the presence of carpet.

Over a week following this rain event Deco Heaven (who also were in the neighbouring Chamber 18 - Winter Nelis) were still trying to dry the area.

Door with ‘No Exit’ sign on it (Photo: 2014-09-19)

More information

  • This area was overlooked via windows from Chamber 20 - Red Delicious and via windows and a door which had once had stairs from Chamber 21 - Pippin, these were removed in the 2015 renovation.

    • Despite this space being roofed in, and the door not actually leading anywhere, it was still necessary to put a ‘no exit’ sign on the door, as visitors to the Packing House still attempted to utilise the door.

Gareth M.
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