Antony Woodward - The Garden in the Clouds - From Derelict Smallholding to Mountain Paradise

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperPress in 2010

Copyright © Antony Woodward 2010

Antony Woodward asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Source ISBN: 9780007216512

Ebook Edition © MAY 2010 ISBN: 9780007351930

Version: 2016-02-19

It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are…than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

The link between imagination and place is no trivial matter.

The existential question, ‘Where do I belong?’ is addressed to the imagination. To inhabit a place physically, but to remain unaware of what it means or how it feels, is a deprivation more profound than deafness at a concert or blindness in an art gallery. Humans in this condition belong no where .

EUGENE WALTER, Placeways , 1988

Cover Page

Title Page THE GARDEN IN THE CLOUDS From Derelict Smallholding to Mountain Paradise

Copyright Copyright Copyright To Vez Prologue 1 Walking country 2 Tair-Ffynnon 3 The Yellow Book 4 A short detour about wood-chopping 5 Winter on the hill 6 The Not Garden 7 The perfect country room 8 The County Organiser 9 The important matter of gates 10 The orchard 11 Bees 12 How not to mow a meadow 13 The Accident 14 The pond 15 Stoning 16 Return of the County Organiser 17 Life, death and hedge-cutting 18 The house 19 ‘Garden Open Today’ Epilogue Keep Reading Acknowledgements The National Gardens Scheme About the Author About the Publisher William Collins An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperPress in 2010 Copyright © Antony Woodward 2010 Antony Woodward asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Source ISBN: 9780007216512 Ebook Edition © MAY 2010 ISBN: 9780007351930 Version: 2016-02-19

To Vez To Vez To Vez Prologue 1 Walking country 2 Tair-Ffynnon 3 The Yellow Book 4 A short detour about wood-chopping 5 Winter on the hill 6 The Not Garden 7 The perfect country room 8 The County Organiser 9 The important matter of gates 10 The orchard 11 Bees 12 How not to mow a meadow 13 The Accident 14 The pond 15 Stoning 16 Return of the County Organiser 17 Life, death and hedge-cutting 18 The house 19 ‘Garden Open Today’ Epilogue Keep Reading Acknowledgements The National Gardens Scheme About the Author About the Publisher sine qua non It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are…than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise. HENRY DAVID THOREAU The link between imagination and place is no trivial matter. The existential question, ‘Where do I belong?’ is addressed to the imagination. To inhabit a place physically, but to remain unaware of what it means or how it feels, is a deprivation more profound than deafness at a concert or blindness in an art gallery. Humans in this condition belong no where . EUGENE WALTER, Placeways , 1988

Prologue

1 Walking country

2 Tair-Ffynnon

3 The Yellow Book

4 A short detour about wood-chopping

5 Winter on the hill

6 The Not Garden

7 The perfect country room

8 The County Organiser

9 The important matter of gates

10 The orchard

11 Bees

12 How not to mow a meadow

13 The Accident

14 The pond

15 Stoning

16 Return of the County Organiser

17 Life, death and hedge-cutting

18 The house

19 ‘Garden Open Today’

Epilogue

Keep Reading

Acknowledgements

The National Gardens Scheme

About the Author

About the Publisher

Hell is all right. The human mind is inspired enough when it comes to inventing horrors; it is when it tries to invent a Heaven that it shows itself cloddish.

EVELYN WAUGH, Put Out More Flags , 1942

My first involvement with gardening was aged seven. I am sitting in the back of my mother’s car (Austin 1300 Countryman, cream, wood-effect trim). She’s at the wheel; my father’s in the passenger seat, my older brother Jonathan is in the back with me. We’ve pulled off a country road alongside some iron railings. Through the railings a garden can be seen leading back, via a wide lawn, to a handsome stone-built villa. Wiltshire probably; possibly Gloucestershire or Somerset.

‘Antony’—my mother only used my full Christian name when she was serious—‘I won’t ask you again. Get out of the car.’

‘No.’

‘Get—out—of—the—car.’

‘Why? Why me?’

‘The more you sit here arguing, the longer we’re going to be.’

‘Why can’t Jonny do it?’

‘You’re smaller than he is. Anyway, it’s your turn.’