Stick a pin in the map of Great Britain
and you'll probably hit an interesting spot. So how to decide
which of these places to visit? There's an assumption amongst some of
my buddies that I'll be filling my days looking at gardens. My
question to them is: does a school teacher want to visit schools when
she's on holiday? Does an engineer want to peer at the support
structure of every bridge he sees? Does an architect want to spend
her free time looking at buildings? No, all these people pick out the
best of the best: the school that is innovative and high-achieving,
the ancient bridge that stands true and solid, the building that
makes the heart sing just to look at it. And so it is for me with
gardens, I only want to see the best.
So if not gardens, then what? When it
comes right down to it I guess I'd have to say it's books. I don't
mean that I'm flying all the way to England to spend my time in
bookshops, pleasant as that may be. What I mean is the places I know from books. Not just
grown-up's books but children's books. Having to grow up is one of
life's great tragedies but fortunately you can keep the essence of
childhood in your heart if you try hard enough. How lovely it would
be to be ten years old forever.
But, London is not for children.
Children belong in the countryside and the seaside; so, for the first
nine days, I'll have to pretend to be a grown-up. Stay tuned to find
out what the grown-up me is up to in London between the 11th
and the 19th of July.
There follows a week in the city of
Matthew Arnold's 'dreaming spires', Hardy's 'Christminster' and Colin
Dexter's 'Morse': the inspiring city of Oxford. It's also the city of
'Alice' who sat by the river one lazy summer's afternoon and spied a
white rabbit.
While in Oxford, I'll be participating
in a week-long summer school at Christ Church, the last word in
Oxford colleges. Myself and five other not-quite-grownups will spend
the week seeking the real 'Alice', daughter of the Dean of Christ
Church, and Lewis Carroll—who imagined 'Alice in Wonderland' and
put it all in a book.
Next stop, West Sussex where I'll be
looking for the Devil's Punchbowl, setting for Monica Edwards'
engaging children's books about the family of Punchbowl Farm. While
I'm down south I can slip over to Kent to re-visit the wonderful
garden at Sissinghurst Castle, and venture into Surrey to find 'Merry
Hall', one-time home of author and man-about-town, Beverley Nichols,
who's whimsical books about his gardens make one want to rush out and
plant a tree.
And then north to Lincolnshire. Why
Lincolnshire? Because I haven't been there. During the week I plan to
visit the fabulous Lincoln Cathedral, and do some cycling in the fen
country.
Heading west from Lincolnshire I'll
arrive in Macclesfield, Cheshire, for the 2 ½ week house sit. Annie
the dog, Fennel the cat and three chooks (un-named?) will be putting
their health and wellbeing in my hands. Best of luck guys.
Macclesfield is just a stones-throw from the delights of the Peak
District National Park and from the Duke of Devonshire's impressive
pile: Chatsworth House.
With just five days left I'll spend
four of them in Reedham and surrounds on the River Yare, where Arthur
Ransome's young sailors had a close shave at the railway bridge in
'Coot Club'.
And so eight weeks will have flown by
and a train from Cambridge will whisk me back to London for a last
day in the capital. Then it's goodbye Piccadilly, farewell Leicester
Square …
No comments:
Post a Comment