 |
| Sally, Emily, Michael, Alex and Janet at Hidcote |
Shakespeare famously used gardening as a metaphor for how to conduct your life: seeding, planting, tending, nurturing, weeding, watering, pruning, feeding, trimming, harvesting, composting, laying fallow.... And he presents England as a giant garden that needs the same treatment. John O'Gaunt used his "royal throne of kings" speech to cement the idea, referencing "this sceptred isle....this earth of majesty....this other Eden, this demi-paradise....this precious stone....this dear, dear land...." Most people forget that the speech leads up to the concept that this gorgeous land is now being run by rich landlords who have effectively destroyed the country from within - hello, Conservative party - (my post-Brexit analysis of the speech - here - remains the same.)
The bees and butterflies fluttering by
In the muddled, topsy-turvy, venal, lie-ridden road to Brexit, life for ordinary peasants goes on (yes, I am a committed Remoaner and proud of it and yes, if you are a Brexiter, I hope you're right and life's going to be lovely but don't bleat about how it's the EU's fault that they're protecting their own interests - of course they are, you numpties, and quite right too, just as we should but we're the ones leaving - and let me know what you imagined would happen with Ireland and fruit-picking and visas and nationals living abroad....) but, this post has such pretty pictures that I'm going to bury the politics and concentrate on what a lovely day it was at Hidcote because life goes on.... the peasants continue to till the land (literally and metaphorically).... Michael will still provide magnificent picnics on the ground in the orchard in order to keep his and my family nourished amongst the whips and scorns of life. And, dodging showers on sultry summer days, we will still find time to answer the Queen's question in Richard II:
What sport shall we devise here in this garden
To drive away the heavy thought of care?
 |
| We could while away the hours conversing with the flowers.... |
Hidcote is a lovely National Trust Arts and Crafts garden created by the horticulturist, Major Lawrence Johnstone. The effect is of wandering through a series of "rooms" in the open air as all the different areas feel like you've entered a new space. The queen and her lady (in Richard II that is) overhear two gardeners chuntering in iambic pentameter, wondering why they should bother to "keep law and form and due proportion" when "the whole land is full of weeds."
O, what a pity is it
That (the king) had not so trimm’d and dress’d his land
As we this garden!There is so much goodness in the hearts of ordinary people, it is important to spend times wandering the highways and byways of the land - and wiling away the hours in places like Hidcote - to remember that the news onslaught is not the only story. We need time to smell the roses and forget the king.
 |
| Back to Joyce's for home-made buns.... |
No comments:
Post a Comment