' Now there was light, Rosa could see that the conservatory was larger than it looked from the outside. Much larger. She had imagined a tidy garden, full of exotic blooms that needed to be protected from the elements, but there were large overgrown shrubs here, and small trees. The further in Rosa went (and further down, steps leading into a large sunken area, the glass roof seeming very high up now) the more it seemed like a small wood, hidden away under glass.
Nothing here seemed very well-maintained. Spades and forks lay on their sides, with ivy beginning to creep over them. Statues and large urns were similarly shrouded with creepers, with one large round object on a plinth so covered in green leaves it was impossible to make out at all. Rosa pulled away a great branch of ivy and uncovered an enormous skull, fully three feet high. A wooden sign on the plinth read ‘Giant (Self-’ but the rest had rotted away. Rosa reached out and touched the skull’s forehead. It was slightly rough, and when she tapped it with a nail, it rang hollow. There was a bird’s nest in one of the eye sockets, though the birds themselves had left long ago.'

'The Curious Cabinet'

BOTANICAL GARDENS