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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