Victorian Garden Cloches
Cloches are an excellent means to achieve greater, earlier, faster or out-of-season production than by uncovered planting in open ground.
The effect is just like that of a greenhouse, protecting them against cold, wind and rain, with the added benefit that a cloche is much more mobile. Because cloches warm the soil beneath them, plants develop much more quickly and you can therefore put a piece of ground to optimum use by planting, say, two or three crops a season instead of one.
The earliest cloches were large bell jars (indeed the word cloche is French for ‘bell’) which were used by French market gardeners to advance their crop.
In the Victorian-era many British country houses used cloches heavily and they became very popular in the gardens of large estates.
The elegant appearance of cloches and the ability to supply houses with greater and and out-of-season crops to feed extravagant owners and to impress guests quickly led to their status as a must-have accessory.
Today, only very few antique Victorian garden cloches remain, which is why we at Claverton Cloches embarked on our journey to bring this most luxurious garden accessory back.
