What do you think is the rarest thing in your garden? A special snowdrop? A mature pockethandkerchief tree? Neither, I reckon. It's clear to me that the rarest thing in any garden is... silence. It appears to be the one commodity that money can't buy.
A stately home close to us came up for sale a few years ago. A wealthy billionaire arrived in his helicopter to take a look. He landed it on the lawn beside the impressive Palladian-fronted property-all pillars and pilasters, dating from the 18th century, and surrounded by several hundred acres of farmland and woodland. He switched off his helicopter engines, disembarked the craft and listened. He could hear the not-too-distant hum of the M3. He boarded his helicopter and took off, never to return.
I was reminded of this tale in the summer when I was asked to suggest an acceptable 'start' and 'stop' time for powered garden machinery on a Sunday. I worried that I would sound holier-than-thou when I explained that I never use power tools on a Sunday, believing profoundly that there should be at least one day in the week when we could go out into our gardens and experience a bit of peace and quiet - or at least as near to peace and quiet as it's possible to experience in this jet-powered age.
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A new plot for tasty crops
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We love July
July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
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