to Cherish
Fashion icon My tour paused by the Fairy Trail Tower and we watched as excited children in costume skipped away armed with their maps and pens. I sketched the gist of the trail and how Beauty has to be saved from the evil queen. Bang on cue a female figure with long straight black hair appeared, sallow skin tones, Gothic makeup, frightening red nails, the picnic basket no doubt harbouring the poisoned apples, the full works. So I introduced her. She looked totally blank and in an instant – though it seemed to last hours – I realised, praying that a very large hole would open up right in front of me, that she was just a very normal visitor … We all laughed but I now avoid eating apples.
A generous gesture I was hosting one particularly horrible February Sunday morning about 6 years ago. It was very windy and sleeting as well. This couple( man & wife) approached and I engaged them in conversation. He clearly did not want to be anywhere near the Alnwick Garden and gave me 10 minutes of what was wrong with the place, and he had only got as far as the atrium. Eventually his wife said, in a way that only wives have,“ Oh be quiet and let ' s go and look round”. So off they went with me breathing a big sigh of relief. After approximately 45 minutes I spotted him coming down the cascade steps and heading directly for me. My heart sank as he approached, wondering what next. His opening words were“ That was bl ** dy fantastic”. I was completely taken aback and asked him why he had changed his opinion. He replied that he was an architect and could see how the garden had been designed and put together and how fantastic it was. I thought that it was very generous of him to come and tell me how wrong his original impressions had been. It made my day.
A rose by any other name On only my third visit to The Garden as a gardening Volunteer, I was busily dead-heading roses, when I was approached by a rather imperious woman who demanded to know where she could find " Jude the Obscure ". Having just recently retired from the library service, I was somewhat startled by this and was tempted to say had she tried either the library or Barter Books! A nudge from a fellow Volunteer made me realise that this must be the name of a rose, which I then set about finding for the visitor. I later discovered that there are several roses named for Thomas Hardy novels scattered about The Garden. I have not made that mistake again.
It ' s a small world! when escorting a group last year a lady asked me about my background and where I was from. I explained I once lived in Sheffield to which she responded so does my son, in a suburb called High Green. Coincidentally, I told her that ' s where I lived and believe it or not in the same cul-de-sac as her son and at the exact same house, number 10. It certainly is a ' small world '.
Volunteers
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