Situation vacant
Post categories: Sam Youd
| 16:52 UK time, Friday, 3 July 2009
'Complete silence, a ban on bathing and an appreciation of solitude are all part of the job description for a position that's has become available at Tatton Park after remaining vacant for the last 150 years'. No this is not an advertisement for a new Gardens Manager, but a press release sent out last week to appeal for a 'hermit' to take up residence in our show garden: 'Hermit's Grotto: Inspiration for Imagination'
But no response so far. John Harris, a celebrated Cheshire hermit, was not quite so reticent and needed no encouragement to become a cave dweller. Heartbroken after his family forbad him from marrying an Anne Egerton, he went to live as a hermit in a cave near Chester until he was 'discovered' at the ripe old age of 99 years! I'll keep you posted as to our recruitment drive ...
Our garden has certainly been inspiring imagination already - in particular, among a group of much younger people from Manor Park Primary School in Knutsford, who have written some hermit poetry. The 'winning' entries will be recited by the Cheshire Poet Laureate, Terry W. Fox on the Thursday and Friday of the show from the hermit's grotto. Be sure to be there!
By the time we've finished the garden our team will probably look like hermits too: unshaven and unwashed for the week and a half of the build-up. We've finished forming our cave and we're just in the process of sorting out the rock to face it with. We are using tufa stone which cuts your hands like a million razors. It also has a strange colour and looks great, really grotesque. At the moment we're also searching for old tree roots to provide the correct environment for a hermit habitat. I hope the judges like it!
Our neighbours at the show will be Chris Beardshaw and his team who are building a garden which will represent a 'plant cell'. Sounds far too biological for me and painful. I can't decide if I've got a problem with my xylem or my phloem and my medullary rays feel stretched to the limit.
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