It’s official: thanks to a combination of the credit crunch, more discerning eating and spending habits that demand organic items but without an inflated price tag, plus the desire to eat and act in more healthy ways, a greater number of people with gardens and even just balconies are looking to set aside space to grow their own fruits and vegetables, whilst there are now waiting lists of up to two years for many county allotments!
An aside to all of this, where space allows immediate action but an allotment waiting list doesn’t, more homeowners are considering the addition of a conservatory or orangery to their property, with the specific purpose of aiding their desire for home grown produce.
Originally, an orangery would have been for the purpose of over-wintering citrus trees (hence the name) and they would have been found in the grounds of more upper class, even stately homes: sometimes as a separate building – in the manner of a greenhouse and sometimes as an architectural add-on to the main property, as we would today with a conservatory. However, the orangery also had a status appeal and as such, even if built separately, an older orangery would always have been built in architectural keeping with the main property to preserve the context of the property and display the wealth of the owner. Popular UK examples include the orangery at the National Trust’s Dyrham Park in Gloucestershire and Chatsworth house in Derbyshire’ Peak District, which boasts ‘The Great Conservatory’, designed by Decimus Burton and Joseph Paxton.
Similarly, conservatories have moved from their pre and post-war ‘lean-to’ status to now offer more features that more closely align them with the status and sophistication of orangery architecture and it seems that in a bit to be more self-sufficient and, ironically save some money in some aspects of daily living, the orangery is making a come-back! With the right builder, adding an orangery or conservatory can give a property an extra room for far less than the cost of a house move and, where thrift, self-sufficiency and growing-our-own are concerned, can bring the outdoors inside in a way that’s more aesthetically pleasing than a greenhouse, and can be ‘lived’ with for the duration of winter and indeed beyond.
Coupled with the nation’s other current home-style trend for tiled, hardwood and laminate flooring, an orangery already offers plenty in keeping with a contemporary home, rather than needing to be designed to specifically blend with it as in centuries before, which brings the price down significantly to make an orangery a purchase prospect for many ‘ordinary’ householders, not just those rich enough to reside in a stately home- another reason for its current appeal.
Lastly, in terms of being an extra room that focuses on space for growing and produce, a modern orangery also presents a great backdrop for that other current trend “eating in as the new eating out”! Wining, dining and catering for others in the calming, sensory rich atmosphere of a growing, living orangery is the epitome of fine living without the fine price tag!
