Information from The Times, 31 October 2001:

Petersham Meadows beside the river west of Richmond-upon-Thames, ‘immortalised in Turner paintings, was saved from development yesterday for the price of a posy of wild flowers’.

The 24-acre site, which was worth an estimated £72 million, had been under threat from developers.  However, Richmond-upon-Thames Borough Council has granted a 125-year lease to the Petersham Trust, a preservation charity, for the annual rent of a posy of wild flowers.

Update, 29 June 2026:  Photographs of the posy can be found posted on Ham House Facebook, on 29 June 2018 and 29 June 2019.  On both dates they were composed of cultivated rather than wild flowers.  On the earlier date the posy was a colourful arrangement of a variety of flowers including astrantia (Astrantia major) and marigolds (Calendula officinalis); on the latter it was a simple bunch of dark purple sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus).

On 29 June 2026, according to the Business Services Co-ordinator at Ham House, the presentation of the posy ‘isn’t a public event, so there won’t be a ceremony or anything to see’.

Photograph taken December 2024.