THE GAFFER'S GARDEN IN THE SUMMER

by: MisS VictoriA DaviD

 

A gentle voice with an almost feminine intensity greets and welcomes me at their doorstep with the delightful phrase, 'You look so fantastic, Darling!'. The person behind the voice is a man whom I called, The Gaffer.

In 2008 on my first visit to England, the first person I met in the flesh who really made me very comfortable is a good friend named, The Gaffer. A big man with bulky muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger that he has developed over the years by spending time at his exclusive gym. Though he has huge biceps, he has a soft spot too! That is shown when it comes to raising plants and yielding healthy new growth from his garden.

I have been visiting his home for years and every time I was there, I was fascinated by his collections of healthy plants. Honestly, when I plan to go there I always look forward to seeing his varieties of plants. They are more than enough to warm me and gratify the nature side in me too.

The front garden is what I prefer more as it has bundles of scarlet red geraniums which appear like a red carpet. Enough to compare it to the red carpet at the Academy Awards, trodden on by famous celebrities in the showbiz world. On the other hand, the rear garden has more to offer because this is where you can see more of his creations.

One of the structures that he erected is a Victorian glass house. This provides a home for his wide range of cacti and delicate plants that usually won't survive the cold weather in England. The glass house itself could be used as a spare room as it has roof ventilator, shelving brackets, single sliding door including door catch and many more accessories.

I can still remember in the summer, his rear garden was ornamented with freshly blooming flowers. All were growing robustly with vivid colours which were very engrossing to my eyes. When I visited him one day in the summer, I was wearing a colourful maxi dress and surprisingly, one of his small flowers matched the design of my garment. And because of that he took a picture of me while standing above those flowers. In the end, they resembled an extension of my floral maxi dress in the picture.

I appreciate the beautiful transformation of their gardens and admire the effort he has made to make their gardens so very enticing.

THE ABBEY GARDENS IN BURY ST. EDMUNDS

by:  MisS VictoriA DaviD

An extensive and neat car park facing the Town Centre was waiting for us. That time, lots of cars had parked already but its vast size gave us no problem to find an empty space. Unlike most of the town centres, this one had no nearby free car parks which would give lots of time to park.

Hooray for we made it through Bury St. Edmunds despite the wiggly waggly and challenging route on the way!

Ash paid the ticket, we left the car and then, traversed to an alley which led into the Town Centre...

The Town Centre was adjacent to the car park but the shops etc. were not along one road like in most large towns. It was divided into a series of spacious streets which were occupied by famous high street shops like Wallis, HMV, Debenhams etc. as well as coffee shops such as Costa. That's where we sat and had our hot drinks before exploring the depths of the Town Centre.

I would never thought that the town had unique features built in. But when I found out about the award-winning venue for live Music called The Apex, which on that day, had an Italian stall erected just opposite selling their own delicacies to shoppers. I had no doubt any more!

It was a sunny yet chilly day when Ash and I were exploring Bury St. Edmunds' Town Centre. I have to admit, that the designed of the centre reminded me of Oxford and Regent Streets in the west End on London.

When we were in the midst of our exploration, I thought all the streets were more or less flat. However, a street which led us towards the beauty of Abbey Gardens was on a downhill road. Was it surprising? Yes, it was! 

The downhill road guided us to the handsome gate tower with a spike wooden barrier at the entrance which led into the Abbey Gardens. Alongside was the ancient stony fence stretching like robust hands. It had stood the test of time and nature's ravages while protecting the Gardens.

We penetrated the Abbey Gardens...

The gate tower resembled a mansion hallway with a high ceiling in which flocks of birds lived. Soon after admiring the entrance gate, three separated nature trails with different destinations welcomed us. Such as, a bird sanctuary on the left side; a plain playground as well as a cathedral on the right side and a walkway going to the central garden in the middle.

We navigated those paths on the day of our visit and explored first, the Aviary...

There were colourful birds from the family members of parrots (mainly) and even extraordinary doves who were well-fed and looked after in a 7-8 foot tall, elongated bird cage. And after being captivated by variegated birds, we were also surprised by a building which looked like a castle with a turret on one end and is now utilised as an office. Moreover, it also had remnants of C11th Benedictine Abbey, what architectural designs remained had been dug and left behind for public scrutiny. Actually, I had an awkward picture of myself in which the background was one of the castle stone foundations and also us, behind two handsome old trees towering each other. On the other hand, there were 2 sets of modern playgrounds for toddlers to teens with recreational equipment made from pieces of wood; a tennis court for people who want to become famous in the sport's world and a miniature reconstruction model (manufactured from acrylic) showing the original layout of C11th Benedictine Abbey. Apart from those man-made structures, there was a clean and passive river flanked by healthy trees and enjoyably inhabited by hefty mallard ducks.

 

We continued our walk which led to the central part of the Abbey Gardens. An extensive rounded shaped garden divided into 4 segments and enhanced by bedding plants which provided a decorative display for beds, borders and containers. Unfortunately, this so-called decorative seasonal display didn’t come upon as the bedding plants were still growing and hadn’t bloomed colourful flowers yet.

Genuinely speaking, spending more than an hour in the Abbey Gardens was worth the effort and to be acquainted as well with its enthralling beauty was an incomparable experience of my life.

Thank you so much Ash for all the time and effort that you put into our trip!

*CLICK to enlarge photos