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It is the dilemma that faces all parents whose children have flown the nest: should they sell their home and find somewhere a little less spacious, or hang on and hope to fill the empty rooms with hordes of grandchildren?
Even royalty is rarely spared this quandary and, in the case of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the decision has been taken to sell. They have put their Gloucestershire home on the market, asking for offers of more than ￡6 million.
Nether Lypiatt Manor, a Grade I listed house close to Stroud, is considered one of the most beautiful homes in England.
A perfectly symmetrical, four-storey building dating from 1703, it has had many admirers, with a long list of aesthetes and architectural historians coveting it. James Lee-Milne, Christopher Hussey, Harold Nicolson and Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd have all fallen under its spell.
The house‘s allure is three-fold: first, its beauty and simple but elegant proportions; second, it is large enough to confer status but, with just eight principal bedrooms and 36 acres of gardens and grounds, is still considered manageable; third, its location in the heart of the Cotswolds is extremely desirable.
Nether Lypiatt‘s royal provenance will do nothing to harm its desirablity. The Kents have owned the estate since 1981 and the princess, who trained as an interior designer, has been responsible for redecorating all of the house‘s rooms.
Because she worked only very briefly before her marriage, these give a rare insight into the princess‘s private taste and style and are described as "exquisite" by one of the agents handling the sale.
Of particular note are the yellow, 39 ft-long drawing room, which has seven full-height windows, and the bedrooms, covered in toile de Jouy fabric, on the top floor of the house.
The gardens have also received a great deal of attention. The princess, with characteristic energy, has overseen the planting of 2,500 rose bushes to form a maze and has designed a knot garden. There are a further 2,000 scented rose bushes interspersed with clematis and honeysuckle in the rose garden.
The princess says she had hoped to spend the rest of her life in the house, and even had the very practical plan of converting a barn on the estate into a dower house. But the fact that her children have now grown up and left home, combined with the ban on her beloved foxhunting, means that the family has decided to sell.
In a recent magazine interview she was reported as saying that she would move to France in order to continue hunting, but there are now rumours of her buying a holiday home on the north African coast.
In the meantime, the Kents will continue to live in their apartments at Kensington Palace.
Although the asking price for Nether Lypiatt may appear rather ambitious in the current climate, William Duckworth-Chad, of the selling agent Savills, remains bullish. "It‘s a wonderful house. The owners have done a phenomenal job - it is beautifully decorated and, while it is grand, it manages to be cosy. It‘s not some rambling stately home."
His confidence is matched by that of Rupert Bradstock of the buying agent Property Vision. "It is a realistic price. It‘s a beautiful house. It does have a particular magic and the royal association is a further attraction."
英女王“失落之园”430年后现原貌
日前，在对英国女王伊丽莎白一世的一座花园的废墟进行勘测后，考古学家决定将430年前的那座英国皇家花园恢复原貌。
据英国《每日电讯报》5月20日报道，考古学家表示，他们在女王花园的废墟中发现的一些重要线索可以帮助他们获知花园的原貌。这座花园始建于1575年，曾于1975年被修复。由于花园的原貌已完全消失，它又被称为“失落之园”。
数十年来，这座位于英国著名的凯尼尔沃思城堡内的花园一直是考古学家关注的焦点。去年，来自英国文化遗产委员会的考古学家开始了对花园的勘测工作。考古学家在修复后的花园的地表下发现了一些430年前的花园原貌痕迹，其中包括构成一座4英尺(约合1.3米)高的中心喷泉的碎石、一座凉亭的地基残留部分以及在花园施工初期用于测量方位的土层等。
据考古学家推算，女王花园大致分为4个部分，分别由一个装饰精美的鸟舍、两座凉亭以及类似金字塔的建筑群构成；同时，园内还有一个10英尺高的露台和众多雕塑；在花园的中心喷泉上，是两名手持圆球、背靠背站立的运动者塑像。尽管在花园始建时，院中的一些果树和其它植物的名目被记录在案，但这些植物残留的痕迹再也无法找到。
勘测结果表明，花园里现有植物的根茎正破坏着隐藏在地表下的原始花园的一些建筑残余。考古学家表示，将在7月份展开对残留建筑的挖掘行动，这对寻找园中众多遗失塑像的下落也很有帮助。
考古学家发现的这些线索可以帮助这座16世纪的英国皇家花园重现往日的瑰丽景象。英国文化遗产委员会负责人约翰-沃特金斯说：“我们会力图使这座花园的原貌得以完美再现。”沃特金斯同时指出，考古学家发现的线索证实了1975年修复后的花园的整体比例和布局都是有悖于它的原貌。”沃特金斯说：“当花园在上个世纪70年代被重建时，没有找到任何有关花园原貌的线索，现在考古技术的发展，我们找到了我们想要的东西，就要开始行动了。”
报道说，花园的重建工作将在2006年夏季陆续展开。英国文化遗产委员会正准备耗资250万英镑重建凯尼尔沃思城堡，其中包括重建女王花园、16世纪的门房以及一座博物馆。
凯尼尔沃思城堡是英国最大的一座被荒废的古堡。1563年，女王伊丽莎白一世将凯尼尔沃思城堡赠与莱斯特城的罗伯特-达德利伯爵。1575年7月，女王到城堡来访19天。为了答谢女王的恩典以及表示自己的殷勤，达德利又将城堡重新整修，并在城堡中专门为女王建造了这座花园。这座壮观华丽、极尽奢侈的花园在当时英国的园林建筑中可谓首屈一指。但英国清教徒革命毁掉了凯尼尔沃思城堡，也使女王花园变为废墟。(文/蒋黎黎)
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