Growing up in the countryside, I didn’t live in a town permanently till I was 19. I miss it but am reconciled to being stuck in the city now. That connection to nature, that is so easy to maintain in the country, is possible to establish here but one has to work harder.
Recently going through my own personal photos from the years 1987 to 1994 – just a handful of precious photographs in the way it used to be before one could take thousands – and I came across these lovely ones I had taken of the gardens of our houses. Evidently moved, even then as a young person, by their beauty.
We moved house a lot when I was a child, living in a total of six houses between my age of 0 and 17. Houses #2 (outside Stroud, Glos.), #4 (outside Haddington, East Lothian), and #5 (outside Cirencester, Glos.) had stunning gardens.
This is the walled garden of house #4, which was truly spectacular. In the summer it was divine. I have a real fondness for walled gardens.
The photo at the top has faded, so I graded it a little – just because…
This was the magnificent formal garden of our house #5. Click on the picture to enlarge it. It really looks very lovely.
My parents had some noted horticulturalists among their friends. For instance, I remember visiting her friend Rosemary Verey with my mother and Rosemary showing us around her amazing vegetable garden. So I guess marvellous gardens was just what you did!
I’m by no means complaining when I point out that what remains of this inflorescent opulence is my 20m2 of roof terrace. Even that is a luxury, of course.