Our garden, early Spring, 1982
Thomas is stood by the pond
The main thing about this photo is how different our garden is now after 42 years (in 2024). 1982 is the year we moved in. Thomas was coming up to three years old and Robert was about to be born.
The wood in the hollow has grown upwards to completely obscure the field beyond and the trees on the skyline. The tree in the middle – a weeping willow then – is now about fifty feet high and absolutely magnificent. All the other trees in the garden have now gone, including the small pine tree held up with guy ropes on the left of the lawn and which we brought back from Brussels in the back of the car after visiting my 'Oncle Gisbert' (and Godfather) at Waterloo. The tree was a Pinus Cembra he had grown in his plant nursery, supposedly somewhere on the battlefield of Waterloo, so we told ourselves the tree contained 'the blood of Englishmen'. We first planted it at the bungalow where we lived previously then moved it here. It blew down in a storm a few years later.
We had an Irish Setter called Mitchum who always ran off at the slightest opportunity. The chicken wire fence and gate across the lawn before it drops down to the wood was to keep him in. 'Mitch' died in 1984 and is buried further down, along with various furry pets and (now) about thirty chickens. Our cat, Clio, is buried near the house where she liked to eat grass.
The wood at the bottom is named on old maps of the area as far back as 1815. It's strange how it's grown in height so much in the last 42 years after growing so slowly for the previous 150 or so. It is mostly oak.
In 1982 the property on the left was empty. The owners had moved to London and were going through a divorce. We almost bought it until the owner of this property came out on the road and offered it to us, so we bought it instead. Things happen by chance. The property on the right was occupied by a family of bakers, now gone.
