Frozen pond at Heathfield

Image: © Marathon Taken: 8 Feb 2012

Heathfield was originally a Georgian estate and went through a number of ownership changes and extensions, but by the mid 1920s was very run down. The estate was bought by Raymond Riesco in 1927. In the 40 years that Riesco owned the land, he changed it from a run down farm to model estate set around the mansion and ornamental gardens. Riesco was a very keen gardener and in the 1920s employed a firm of landscape contractors to lay-out the rock garden and terraces, which were planted with a variety of alpines, small trees and shrubs. The walled garden provided fruit and vegetables for the kitchen and the small nursery on one side produced plants for the ornamental areas. On the death of Raymond Riesco in 1964, Croydon Corporation bought the house and gardens, and opened the gardens to the public. The house is now a training centre. This view is of the frozen pond at the approach to the house. It had snowed three days before this photograph was taken and although much of the snow in the suburbs had melted, out here on the edge of Croydon it was still very much in evidence and bitterly cold.

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