The Quinta da Boa Vista is a historic quinta ('estate') and orchid garden in the Santa Maria Maior parish of

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of ...

on the island of

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, overlooking the central and western parts of Funchal. It contains one of the last remaining walled stair terrace gardens of Funchal and continues to draw its water from the

levada A levada is an irrigation channel or aqueduct specific to the Portuguese Atlantic region of Madeira. History In Madeira, the levadas originated out of the necessity of bringing large amounts of water from the west and northwest of the island ...

irrigation system. It was built some time during the late 18th and early 19th century, appearing on Trigo's 1910 ''Planta Roteiro Cidade do Funchal 1910'' map for the first time.

Quinta da Boa Vista Orchid Garden

After having been converted to a market garden and then a flower farm, the quinta was eventually acquired by the Garton family in the 1860s, and in the 1960s, after his retirement from the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Group Captain Cecil Garton

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

converted it into a site for growing and breeding orchids together with his wife Elizabeth Hera 'Betty' Garton, daughter of a pioneer of orchid breeding, Sir William Cooke. When Betty inherited her father's orchid collection, she brought part of the collection to Madeira (the site in Hampstead Norreys later become an orchid centre called ''Wyld Court Orchids'' which in turn became the Living Rainforest) and continued growing and breeding orchids, increasingly also for conservation purposes. Today her son Patrick, who graduated from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

with a degree in botany, continues to run the quinta and the Quinta da Boa Vista Orchid Garden has become a popular tourist attraction and one of Madeira's most important orchid collections.

2016 Fires

The Quinta da Boa Vista survived the 2016 Portugal wildfires unscathed; other orchid gardens, such as the ''Jardim Orquídea'' were almost completely destroyed.

External links

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References

Gardens in Portugal Buildings_and_structures_in_Funchal {{Madeira-stub