Octavia hill education.
Octavia Hill
London Open Space and the National Trust
Everything that Octavia Hill did in her life's work of campaigning and active reform was interconnected.
Octavia hill family
As cities grew and housing conditions worsened, public parks and open spaces were, she considered, urgently needed. At one extreme, they might provide acres of space in which to run or play, at the other, mere pocket-handkerchiefs of grass and trees.
Her personal experience, during a childhood of considerable privation, was that enjoyment of natural beauty, together with freedom for children and some space and quiet for their mothers, was an essential amenity - not a luxury.
She calculated that West London provided an acre of open space to every 682 residents, while, to the east, an acre served 7,481. This illustration of social disparity prompted her idea of a 'green belt' around the city.
Although Octavia mounted major campaigns to buy land to add to existing London parks (in particular Hampstead Heath), it was the pie