The Gardener....

For many years Kathryn and I have been visiting fine gardens up and down the land - a pastime we share with millions of others. And with those others we admire the lovingly created beds, the fine trees, the creativity of the landscaping and the manner in which old and new are blended into that wonderful English thing - a great garden.

But until we visited Hampton Court (the one in Herefordshire) this Summer, we had speculated on whether the gardening was done, not by human hand, but through the agency of fairies, elves and gnomes. In all our visits we struggled to recall ever seeing any gardener actually gardening. There were always employees around - selling teas, manning tills, marshalling car parking, providing information and flogging plants - but nobody digging, hoeing, planting or mowing. No obvious sign of the activities that those of us with more modest gardens know take time and effort.

It may be that Hampton Court is unique - perhaps not yet admitted to the secrets of supernatural gardening - but for the first time (as the picture above testifies) we witnessed a person actually doing some gardening.

Unless of course he's really one of The Gentry and the human form is but an illusion?

....