Talk:Eastcote House Gardens/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Malleus Fatuorum (talk · contribs · count) 20:31, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Lead

1. "The Eastcote House Gardens are an area of public parkland in Eastcote". That reads really awkwardly. Why not the less contorted "Eastcote House Gardens is an area of public parkland ...?
2. "The walled garden, dovecote and coach house are the remaining parts of Eastcote House, which dates to around the 16th century." The tense isn't right there. If the house no longer exists then the house doesn't "dates" to around, it "dated" to around.
3. "Haydon Hall was demolished in 1967 by the RNUDC's successor, the London Borough of Hillingdon." We've already been told that Hillingdon was the successor to the RNUDC in the first paragraph, so is there any need to repeat it here?

   Thank you for your review. The concerns for this paragraph have been addressed. Harrison49 (talk) 15:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Eastcote House

1. The caption to File:Eastcote House Gardens Gate.jpg just says "Details of the entrance gate", but the entrance gate to what? Judging by the initials EHWG it looks like the entrance to the walled gardens, not Eastcote House Gardens.

   The walled garden and the Eastcote House Gardens are the same thing. I've made it clearer in the lead. Harrison49 (talk) 15:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

   Everything I've read suggests that the walled garden is just one of the features in Eastcote House Gardens, along with the stable building and so on, not that they're the same thing. Malleus Fatuorum 18:56, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

2. "Hopkyttes was extended by either Ralph Hawtrey or his son John, and the brick exterior added". We were told in the immediately preceeding sentence that the house had been renamed Eastcote House, so why are we still calling it Hopkyttes?

   This has been addressed. Harrison49 (talk) 15:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

3. "It became a public building for the use of the Scouts, Guides, Women's Institute and a welfare clinic ...". The subject of the previous sentence was the house and gardens, so the "it" starting this sentence off is somewhat jarring. Presumably you mean the house? Not the gardens or their outbuildings? What's a "welfare clinic"?

   A welfare clinic is a sort of public health centre. It is referred to as a welfare clinic in the source I have used. Harrison49 (talk) 15:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

4. "Despite having been purchased by the local council on the basis of being historically significant, the same council ruled there were no features of the house worth retaining." This is dangerously close to soap-boxing. It also sits uneasily with the earlier statement that the council bought it because it was endangered (threatened might be a better word) by a proposed new housing development.

   I've halved the sentence to take it away from the edge. Harrison49 (talk) 15:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

5. The third paragraph is completely out of synch with the chronology. We've covered the demolition in 1964 and suddenly we're shot back to 1878.

   This has been moved up into chronological order. Harrison49 (talk) 15:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

6. The final paragraph, about Eastcote Billiards Club, is a bit garbled, especially the second sentence.

   This has been rewritten. Harrison49 (talk) 15:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Gardens

1. This is the section I have major problems with, as it tells us pretty much nothing about the gardens despite its name. What gardens are there? How big are they? What do they contain? What were they used for when there was a house? How many visitors do the gardens get? Have they ever won any awards?

   It's difficult to find anything on their size, the number of visitors or awards but I have been able to add information on their past use. Harrison49 (talk) 21:15, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

   Apparently it won a Green Flag award in July this year.[1][2] Malleus Fatuorum 18:56, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

   The Borough of Hillingdon's management plan talks about an orchard outside the walled garden, that the gardens contain 50 different species of tree, and lots more.[3] Malleus Fatuorum 18:56, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

   I've added further details. Harrison49 (talk) 20:58, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

   Very nice additions. But now of course the lead needs to be expanded a little bit to summarise the new material; probably just a couple of sentences would do. Malleus Fatuorum 21:17, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

   I've added a couple more sentences. Harrison49 (talk) 21:43, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

2. "With the London Borough of Hillingdon, they sought to apply for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund." Did they seek to apply or did they apply?

   This has been adjusted. Harrison49 (talk) 21:15, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

3. "The herb gardens were planted in 1977". Is there more than one herb garden?

   This has been adjusted. Harrison49 (talk) 21:15, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

4. "Upon the demolition of the house, the walled garden, coach house and dovecote were retained following a public outcry." I'm unhappy about the strident language in "public outcry".

   My source refers to it as a public outcry, although I could tone this down if you would prefer? Harrison49 (talk) 16:32, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

   In that case could we put "public outcry" in quotations, to avoid any impression that it's us making that judgement? Malleus Fatuorum 17:09, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

   I've changed it to "at the public's request". Is that better? Harrison49 (talk) 17:55, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

   I've got no problem with "outcry" so long as it's clearly attributed to whoever said it, not us. Malleus Fatuorum 18:56, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

External links

1. The external link is dead.

   This has been laid to rest and replaced. Harrison49 (talk) 21:15, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.