Queen Charlotte's Cottage facts for kids
Queen Charlotte's Cottage is a beautiful old house from the 1700s. It's located inside the famous Kew Gardens in London, right by the River Thames. This special cottage is named after Queen Charlotte, who had it built a long time ago in 1772.
The cottage is a type of building called a "cottage orné." This means it's a fancy, rustic-style cottage that looks like it belongs in a fairytale! Today, the cottage is cared for by Historic Royal Palaces and you can visit it to see what it was like in the past.
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Why Queen Charlotte Loved Kew
George III and Queen Charlotte loved spending their summers at Kew. This was partly because George III's mother, Princess Augusta, lived there often. Also, King George III, like his father Prince Frederick, was very interested in farming and nature.
They stayed in places like Richmond Lodge and what we now call Kew Palace. Because they enjoyed their time at Kew so much, Queen Charlotte decided to build her own special cottage there. This is the cottage that now carries her name!
The Unique Design of the Cottage
Queen Charlotte's Cottage is one of the earliest examples of a "cottage orné." These cottages were popular in the late 1700s and early 1800s. They were designed to look rustic and charming, often with a lovely thatched roof and decorative wooden details. Most were single-story, but some had two floors.
Built in 1772, the cottage has a timber frame with bricks filling the spaces. Some people think this design reminds Queen Charlotte of the buildings from her childhood in North Germany. The roof is made of thatch, which is dried plant material. The simple doors are made from rough wooden planks with old-fashioned latches.
The windows are quite large for a cottage and use recycled frames from the 1600s with small glass panes held by lead.
Inside the Cottage: Rooms and Art
Inside, Queen Charlotte's Cottage is more detailed than most cottages of its kind. There are two main rooms. Downstairs is the Print Room, and upstairs is the Picnic Room. A special staircase connects the two floors.
The Picnic Room has unique paintings done by Princess Elizabeth, one of Queen Charlotte's daughters. She was taught how to draw plants by a famous artist named Franz Bauer. In the early 1800s, Princess Elizabeth painted the room to look like the inside of a bower, which is a special structure built by certain birds.
The earliest description of the cottage, from 1774, says that Queen Charlotte herself designed it. She paid for the building work from her own money. While her records are lost, some evidence suggests that Sir William Chambers helped turn her ideas into architectural plans. Chambers also designed the famous Great Pagoda nearby. In 1805, the cottage was made a bit bigger with a second story and a thatched roof.
The roof is made from Norfolk reed, which is the original material used. It has a special pattern on the ridge, made from sedge. The cottage even has a sprinkler system for safety, with some sprinklers poking through the thatch.
The Cottage Grounds
The area behind the cottage was once home to kangaroos! From 1792, Queen Charlotte kept kangaroos in the rear paddock. However, in 1806, the area was changed into a beautiful flower garden by W. T. Aiton.
Opening the Cottage to Visitors
Queen Victoria didn't visit the cottage very often, but it was always looked after by a housekeeper during her long reign. A writer named Sir Arthur Helps lived in the cottage for a few years, from 1867 until 1875.
In 1898, Queen Victoria gave both Queen Charlotte's Cottage and Kew Palace to the public. This was to celebrate her diamond jubilee (60 years as queen) the year before. She asked that the grounds around the cottage be left in a natural, wild state.
Today, both the cottage and Kew Palace, along with the Pagoda, are managed by Historic Royal Palaces and are open for people to visit and learn about their history. In 2021, the cottage received some money from the government's Culture Recovery Fund to help with its upkeep.
Images for kids
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Queen Charlotte's Cottage
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The Picnic Room, with Princess Elizabeth's painting
