What began as a grandfather and grandmother’s response to satisfy the plea of a niece turned out to be an enjoyable experience, not devoid of historic recollections.

On June 16, pupils from various primary schools were invited to attend the opening of the Kitchen Garden at the President’s private gardens at San Anton Palace. My niece was one of them, and before leaving for school she asked my wife and I to have a short look at the activity they were having that morning.

We did, and stayed till the end, impressed by the innovative way in which the gardens had been turned into a playground-cum-garden fete. We were even more enthused when we were told the garden would be open for the public.

The large area had been in shambles until the rehabilitation project was launched. The garden now has modern paving, new garden furniture and modern, artistic lighting for the trees. This development is the result of an extensive rehabilitation programme that took 18 months of hard work performed at the initiative of President George Abela.

It also features a playing area and animal pens for a variety of animals, including Shetland ponies, donkeys, ostriches, emu, cranes and goats. The pens were built according to EU animal care standards. It is possible that this was a resuscitation of an old feature.

San Anton Palace was the brainchild of Grand Master Antoine de Paule who built it between 1623 and 1636 to serve as a summer residence. In actual fact it was a development of a country house he had started building for himself in 1620 and then expanded when he assumed the leadership of the Order. The inner part of San Anton Gardens, spread over nine tumoli, has been a constant source of supply of vegetables for the palace ever since the time of the Knights.

It is said that the Grand Master threw a lavish party for the palace’s inauguration and invited some 600 guests for dinner, an event described later by Sir Harry Luke, the popular Governor of Malta from 1930 to 1938, as follows: “Besides the seneschal, the chaplains and the physicians, the gamekeeper and the falconers, the drummers and the trumpeters, the valets and the pages, grooms and a host of other domestics, in descending order of importance, there were the wigmaker and the winder of clocks; there were even a rat catcher and a baker of black bread for the hunting dogs.”

The pompous event had already incurred the ‘wrath’ of Inquisitor Fabio Chigi, one of the most humane of Inquisitors who was later to become Pope Alexander VII and whose papal name is recorded in a street named after him in Balzan where he resided.

During British rule, the palace was the Governor’s official residence, with Verdala Palace enjoying his presence in summer. It was in 1882, during Governor Burton’s governorship, that the entrance facing Notabile Road was opened; till then the main entrance was on the opposite side of the gardens, at Lija.

But, possibly, the palace’s most important moment came about during the short-lived French period when it served as the administrative centre of the Commander of the British Forces, Sir Alexander Ball, and of the Maltese National Council that led the Maltese uprising against the French.

The garden was laid out and developed further over the years. In time it became a popular morning venue for elderly, and not so elderly, people taking their nephews and nieces for a stroll and a welcome rest around the Eagle pond, while the children enjoyed themselves watching and teasing the ever so popular geese.

Sunday morning family ex-cursions to the garden are extremely popular. The playing area and the pens, while open for everyone, are especially earmarked for people with disability.

The garden is also included in the itinerary of cruise liner tourists who enjoy noting the various several monuments recording a number of national or international personalities and events.

The gardens, accessible from opposite the rear entrance of San Anton Palace, are open daily between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., with no break during the weekends.

Profits from sales from the cafeteria in the gardens will go to the Community Chest Fund.

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