Subject: Re: What is a Ha-ha?

From: [email-masked] (Karen Fletcher)
Date: 4 Apr 1995 12:16:16 GMT

Richard & Marsha ([email-masked]) wrote:
: While reviewing the magazine 'Horticulture' Jul '95, the article
: "The Purloined Urn" in discussing garden thefts mentions the
: following:

:   ".... At other stately homes, thieves have been known to bridge
:    a ha-ha with planks and drive away the owner's tractor towing
:    a trailer full of (garden) loot. ... "

: A question for our friends from the UK ... what is a "ha-ha"??

:                  TIA....................Richard

It's a kind of ditch - meant to keep out the livestock without interfering
with the view the way a fence would.

Obviously useful if you have 1) livestock and 2) a view ;-)

--
Karen Fletcher                                     [email-masked]
==========================================================================

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Apr 95 14:47:12 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Richard & Marsha) writes:
> While reviewing the magazine 'Horticulture' Jul '95, the article
> "The Purloined Urn" in discussing garden thefts mentions the
> following:
> 
>   ".... At other stately homes, thieves have been known to bridge
>    a ha-ha with planks and drive away the owner's tractor towing
>    a trailer full of (garden) loot. ... "
> 
> A question for our friends from the UK ... what is a "ha-ha"??

I discovered ha-has at a Capability Brown-designed garden in 
England....  I think I discovered the source of the name, too...

Picture three jetlagged botanists in their first encounter with a
Great British Landscape Garden.  Rushing around taking pictures, not
paying a whole lot of attention to many things they might have
otherwise noticed.  Interesting garden... kinda formal near the
house, vast vistas blending into far away grazing lands. (Question
that did not occur to me at the time:  How do you keep the cows out
of the garden without a fence?)

Well, I discovered how you kept the cows out without a fence:
you dig an irregular, deep ditch around the garden.  90o wall
closest to the house, other bank more sloped, so it looks like
a meandering stream.

Botanists who are paying more attention to new (to them) genera
of conifers in their camera viewfinders have been known to walk
backwards off that 90o wall, and land on their dignity in the
bottom of the ditch.  Other botanists, and supposed friends,
collapse making "hahahaha" noises....      (and Linda knew about
Capability Brown and ha-has and didn't warn me, the fink!)_

Anyhow, a landscaped ditch that serves as a barrier to livestock
is a ha-ha.

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 07:01:24 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Richard & Marsha) writes: 

>                 TIA....................Richard
>
>

It is a (usually low) fence, the bottom portion of which is sunk
into the ground.

Chris Owens

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From: J. A. Stiller <[email-masked]>
Date: 4 Apr 1995 20:56:49 GMT

>> A question for our friends from the UK ... what is a "ha-ha"??
I'm not from the UK, but I'm pretty sure a ha-ha is a ditch with a fence
built into the bottom of it.  The idea is to keep cattle, sheep, or
whatever from wandering off, while at the same time preserving a vista
that is unsullied by the sight of a fence.   
Jenny in Haverford, PA

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From: [email-masked] (Matt Brunton)
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 09:36:50

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Christine Boulby) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (Christine Boulby)
>Subject: Re: What is a Ha-ha?
>Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 20:06:01 +0000

>In article <[email-masked]>
>           [email-masked] "Richard & Marsha" writes:

>I think it is a miniature fence or hedge - the size of those used in 
>knot gardens.
>-- 
>Christine Boulby

I understood a 'ha-ha' to be a form of ditch.  It was often used in
stately homes so as not to spoil a view (which a hedge or fence would do)
Apologies for the ASCII graphics....

   <--- view                          | HOUSE  |   
                                      |        |
----------------\        |----------------------------------      
                 --\     |
                    --\  |
                       --|

Matt

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From: [email-masked] (Denise Henry)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 23:10:49 +0000

This is very difficult without a real drawing but I will try. The stately 
homes in question wanted to look out on rural bliss, sheep and cows
quietly grazing in beautiful parkland but did not want these creatures
anywhere near them or the ornate gardens close to the house so the ha-ha
was constructed 

          _                                   _ o
         / \    Flower garden               ( _ ) 
  House  | |    ****                         | |  Picturesque farm animal
        -------------------------    _-------------
                 retaining wall |  _/
                                |_/
                                 ditch

The house now has an open view of the fields beyond and the animals can
niether jump the ditch or scale the wall.

    Denis

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From: [email-masked] (Richard & Marsha)
Date: 4 Apr 1995 02:49:59 GMT

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From: [email-masked] (Karen Fletcher)
Date: 4 Apr 1995 12:16:16 GMT

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Apr 95 14:47:12 -0600

---

From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 07:01:24 GMT

Chris Owens

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From: J. A. Stiller <[email-masked]>
Date: 4 Apr 1995 20:56:49 GMT

---

From: [email-masked] (Matt Brunton)
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 09:36:50

<--- view                          | HOUSE  |   
                                      |        |

Matt

---

From: [email-masked] (Denise Henry)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 23:10:49 +0000

_                                   _ o
         / \    Flower garden               ( _ ) 

    Denis

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Apr 95 14:47:12 -0600

---

From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 07:01:24 GMT

Chris Owens

---

From: J. A. Stiller <[email-masked]>
Date: 4 Apr 1995 20:56:49 GMT

---

From: [email-masked] (Matt Brunton)
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 09:36:50

<--- view                          | HOUSE  |   
                                      |        |

Matt

---

From: [email-masked] (Denise Henry)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 23:10:49 +0000

_                                   _ o
         / \    Flower garden               ( _ ) 

    Denis

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From: [email-masked] (Gary Cooper)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 12:21:01 +0000

> A question for our friends from the UK ... what is a "ha-ha"??

I'm glad you asked that <happy smile>. A ha-ha is a basic feature
of traditionally landscaped gardens - a wide ditch which
separates the garden from the surrounding countryside, keeping 
out animals. It's an alternative to a fence, which landscapers
such as Capability Brown deemed ugly and intrusive.

Hope that helps,

-- 
Gary Cooper

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From: [email-masked] (Gary Cooper)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 12:21:01 +0000

Hope that helps,

-- 
Gary Cooper

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From: [email-masked] (Gary Cooper)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 12:21:01 +0000

Hope that helps,

-- 
Gary Cooper

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From: [email-masked] (Gary Cooper)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 12:21:01 +0000

Hope that helps,

-- 
Gary Cooper

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From: [email-masked] (donna gresh)
Date: 7 Apr 1995 11:41:31 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Christine Boulby) writes:
|> In article <[email-masked]>
|>            [email-masked] "Richard & Marsha" writes:
|> 
|> > While reviewing the magazine 'Horticulture' Jul '95, the article
|> > "The Purloined Urn" in discussing garden thefts mentions the
|> > following:
|> > 
|> >   ".... At other stately homes, thieves have been known to bridge
|> >    a ha-ha with planks and drive away the owner's tractor towing
|> >    a trailer full of (garden) loot. ... "
|> > 
|> > A question for our friends from the UK ... what is a "ha-ha"??
|> > 
|> >                  TIA....................Richard
|> > 
|> > 
|> I think it is a miniature fence or hedge - the size of those used in 
|> knot gardens.
|> -- 
|> Christine Boulby

I had always thought it was a gully or small ditch, which
seems to make sense given the quote above.

-- 

Donna Gresh

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From: Adam Van Wirdum <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Apr 1995 08:13:26 GMT

> Apologies for the ASCII graphics....
 Matt is right. The ditch works like a fence/barrier for animals.
But cannot be seen from a distance. When you fall down it everone goes Ha HA :-)
Michael Bailes
The Fragrant Garden 
Erina

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From: Adam Van Wirdum <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Apr 1995 08:13:26 GMT