Just been to book the venue for my husband's big birthday bash next year and, having never been to the place before, had a quick wander round the pleasant gardens which surround it. All very nice. My eye was drawn to a clock tower at the end of the garden but reaching it, found that it was a part of a small, locked building embedded in an 18 foot brick wall which went on... and on... and on.... round various small crumbly brick outbuildings and round a huge, abandoned expanse of walled garden.
Ooooooooooooooooh.
Managed to peer though a sliverish gap in the boarding and what I saw made my heart go bang. Takes me back to my red and gold bound copy of Frances Hodgson Burnett's 'Secret Garden' which I pored over in my childhood. The garden lay there beyond its screen of brambles, but the space looked fantastic... and very long untended. Turned out from my chat with the venue manager that it has been sealed up for the last 30 years and it sets my mind racing with daydreams. Might have to make a few enquiries, just to find out a bit more about it..... Unbelieveably gorgeous in my minds eye with veg and Tuckshop Flowers flourishing within. How exciting can daydreams be?
The Secret Garden is actually by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Noel Streatfeild was the ballet/ice-skating one, who also enlivened my childhood reading though I had zero interest in either) but what a wonderful find...
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me! I realised I'd got them mixed up a few days after writing this post but never got round to correcting it. Now I have.... Must make my enquiries too....
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