A documentary about Friar Park called Friar Park: Sir Frank Crisp’s Museum of Gardens, will be released later this year by investigative historian, Scott Cardinal.

Scott says of the documentary it is a time-travel journey to an extraordinary English country estate envisioned by Sir Frank Crisp in the medieval town of Henley-on-Thames where he created gorgeous grounds and gardens and an underland wonderland! Explore the magnificent mansion, meet those who spent time there and the man who was destined to call the estate his home and restored the estate to it’s former glory.

Scott has been posting, asking questions and researching for this documentary on local Facebook pages so we thought that we would speak to him to find out a bit more.

“I am an architectural and investigative historian. I also teach Design Psychology. My central focus is researching how creative and productive people throughout history have lived and worked. Understanding this, I feel, can help others figure out ways that they can become more creative and productive in their personal and professional lives.

My first books were about the Dakota apartment building in New York City because it always bothered me that all anyone ever knew about it was that is where John Lennon died. But it is such a beautiful building, with a fantastic design and history, and so I wrote books and have lectured about it. 

I’ve also done the same with John Lennon’s Tittenhurst Park, Friar Park, and other places of major architectural and historical significance.

As far as Friar Park, as difficult to believe as it may seem, George Harrison was the least interest part of its storied history.  Its ideator, Sir Frank Crisp, was legendary in his own time, as was Friar Park. The gardens he created were quite unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. It was referred to as a Museum of Gardens because Crisp seemed to be “collecting” gardens and putting them on display for visitors to see. 

For years I’ve been asked to put together a documentary about Friar Park, but there has been so much to tell that it was frustrating to try to squeeze in everything in a 60-90 minute film.

So I put one together that focuses on Sir Frank Crisp and what he created up until the time of his death in 1919. Of course I show Henley in a very positive light, as it deserves to be.

I’d like very much to produce a documentary about Friar Park when it was owned by Sir Percival & Lady David, but there is practically nothing out there about them, or their lives in Henley. This is astonishing to me. If anyone has any information they can provide, I would greatly appreciate it.

What I would like to do at this point is connect with a local, non-human animal adoption, rescue, and welfare organization and allow them to use the documentary – entitled FRIAR PARK: SIR FRANK’S CRISP’S MUSEUM OF GARDENS – as a fundraiser. If anyone has any suggestions about that, kindly let me know.

In the meanwhile, because I have so much research on Friar Park that couldn’t possibly be used in the documentary, for an assortment of reasons, I am releasing a video series called FRIAR PARK STORIES, and will be making them available on video platforms such as YouTube, Rumble, BitChute, and others.

For those who are interested in experiencing what it was like to visit Friar Park in the past, I have produced a series of time-travel-style Audio Tours. They are available on my website www.AudibleAdventures.com. They can also download the Audible Adventures App on their iPhone or Android devices.

People are also more than welcome to join the Friar Park Fan Club on Facebook where we discuss the architecture, and gardens, and history of Friar Park.”