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@oat44
Ok, so I guess I need to redeem myself after all that. This place was the site of Sayes Court, a house once inhabited by diarist John Evelyn, friend of Samuel Pepys. Evelyn and his father in law created one of the most beautiful ornamental gardens that Pepys had ever seen, complete with with fine holly hedging and rare trees. Unfortunately however, a few years after Evelyn moved out, the house was rented to Peter the Great (second picture clue) for three months in 1698 when he was over in England to learn about shipbuilding in Deptford. In this time, Peter the Great completely trashed the place with his entourage of "right nasty people" doing such damage as using the paintings for shooting practice and playing 'wheelbarrow' which involved the drunken Peter being bundled into a wheelbarrow and being repeatedly pushed through the fine holly hedging.
Much much later in 1884 a descendent of Evelyn approached Octavia Hill to help try and protect what was left of the site by making it publicly owned. This process started what is now known as the National Trust.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayes_Court
an amusing detailed account of the damage done by Peter the Great:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RaDIN2GaXtIC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=peter+the+great+sayes+court+right+nasty&source=bl&ots=SPvNqyCbPF&sig=RZB-vAMLClnDSk6UW8j4gGRiq3A&sa=X&ei=Bu8vUJbEKYi-0QWasYDgDA&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=peter%20the%20great%20sayes%20court%20right%20nasty&f=false
http://wwp.greenwichengland.com/heritage/people/greats/peter-the-great.htm