Stockbridge in the Age of the Coronavirus - July 2020

The story began far away on 4th January 2020 when the WHO tweeted that there was a cluster of pneumonia-like cases of unknown cause in Wuhan. On 9th January the Chinese Authorities determined that the outbreak was caused by a novel coronavirus, named later by the WHO as Covid-19. On 21st January WHO tweeted that there was evidence of human-to-human transmission and the first two cases in the UK were publicised on 31st January. By 9th March, there had been 100.000 confirmed cases globally and the WHO categorised the virus as a pandemic.

In the UK, our inaction has been well documented, but on 23rd March the government, at last, ordered us all to 'stay at home'. The Lockdown, as it became known, lasted until 13 May when some easing was allowed and further on 14th June, when all non-essential shops were allowed to reopen. On 4th July, pubs and restaurants could again welcome customers, though under strict conditions. The Lockdown, therefore, lasted 51 days or almost two months.

The town responded to the Lockdown magnificently. A plan called 'Help for Stockbridge', written by Roger Tym and David Roberts, divided Stockbridge up into 12 sections while Chantal Halle recruited volunteers who were then assigned to each section*, Particularly vulnerable people were identified and leaflets distributed offering help, with a named 'buddy's' email and telephone number and list of what could be given. Listed services provided were shopping, prescription pick-up and drop off, posting letters and friendly chats to help with people feeling too isolated and alone. Counselling services from Ali Deveral were also offered for those who were struggling with Lockdown, together with medical assistance in case of emergencies from Emma Montgomery, a nurse.

Chantal Halle

As the group developed, they were offered the use of the kitchens at Stockbridge Primary School by Emma Jefferies, the head, and free lunches were cooked by the school chef, Shawn, and delivered to vulnerable residents as requested until the children started to return at the beginning of June.  

Emma Jefferies and Shaun

Thereafter, some of the traders stepped in and Prego, Thyme & Tides and Robinson's donated lunches at a very low price (£2.50 per lunch for Thyme & Tides and Prego and cost price from Robinson's for their fresh-frozen meals). Vishnu at the Co-Op also offered free baked goods when he had deliveries available. Chantal Halle prepared Robinson's meals with some vegetables and the buddies picked them up and distributed them.  On Mondays and Fridays, various volunteers cooked, and again the buddies picked up from their houses and distributed them.  There was no charge for the lunches, but donations were welcomed and given. Thanks are also due to Cllr. Andrew Gibson of HCC and  Imogen Colley and David Gleave of TVBC for grants.

And some of us were lucky enough to be on Liz Cox's list for her delicious lemon drizzle cakes that she would normally have sold in the Community Market (which has fortunately now re-opened).

Iain hemmings and Ollie at Thyme & Tides

Mandy at Prego

John Robinson's 

Vishnu at the Co-Op

There have been no deaths in Stockbridge from the virus, although some have fallen ill and and strictly isolated themselves, before recovering.

Stockbridge was strangely quiet throughout Lockdown, and even now has not recovered to its usual busy state. The government guidelines have become beset by mixed messages so that people aren't really sure what they can and can't do, but the wearing masks has become mandatory and the shops have been assiduous in making themselves as secure as they can, with one-way systems and hand sanitizers and in the case of Beccy's the greengrocer, allowing ordering only from outside the shop.

Beccy's

The Parish Magazine of July 2020 included these two pieces, thanking those who had provided help and food to those unable to get out:

The gardens at the east end of the town were to have been open for the Church in July, but had to remain unvisited. I did, however, manage to visit them and a photo of each of the gardens was included in the Parish Magazine. 

The latest development (29th  July) has been the introduction of barriers along the High St to allow better social distancing, particularly outside the main food shops where people tended to gather. 

And, slowly, the churches are reopening with small numbers allowed inside, and no singing. Sadly, however, the bells can't yet be rung. It will be a significant day in the town's history when they can.

*The list of volunteers includes:

Sarah Burnfield

Jesse and Chantal

Sarah Couch'

Robert Eastwood

Jean Farnam

Felicia Green

Richard Guterbock

Bea Halle

Paul Kidd 

Jennifer Kidd

Sarah Madden

Becky Marcantonatos

Emma Montgomery 

Claire McLaughlan

Karen Malim

Tony Molyneux

Miki Nadal

Ollie Payne

Diane Shirley

Deborah Smart

Madeleine Smart

Tallulah Smart

Emma Smythe

Diana Tym

Anno Webley

Dilys Wilde

Catherine Williams

Andrea Zanthi

 See also 'A Brief History of Plagues' 

Thoughts of Others on Social Distancing and Lockdown 

 

 

Favourite Gardens - Little Court, Crawley

Little Court has been home to Patricia Elkington for over 50 years and she has made the garden a must-visit destination, full of interesting plants and vistas

Patricia Elkington. She was for many years the NGS organiser and still opens her garden for the charity both in early spring and in summer. 

 

For more photos, click here 

Old Swan House Garden in June 2020

The grasses are slowly turning from green to gold, and the alchemilla and sedums are adding mounds of colour to the gravel garden

The garden is usually open for two days in June for the National Gardens Scheme, but this year CV has prevented it - though it's possible that it might be open for a day or two in July.  In any event, the roses are at their best in June and the whorls of euphorbia wulfenii have lit up the garden since spring, forming great acid-green buttresses at the ends of the beds - and by July they may be ready for the Chelsea Chop.

 

The orchard is becoming pleasingly shady as the trees grow and the leafy branches give more and more cover

Rose 'Felicite et Perpetue' on the damson

The lower wall border is filling out up with roses Ispahan and Compassion, echinops and teucrium, supported by foxgloves, eryngium and stachys. 

The teazle guarding the gate into the wildflower area

The iris have finished their display round the pond, but the water lilies are coming out instead

Rose American Pillar bright against the summer sky

Favourite Garden Catalogues - Cotswold Garden Flowers (Bob Brown) 2020

I was delighted to receive a catalogue from Cotswold Garden Flowers (Bob Brown) 2020 today. It's a real treat to read, for as well as finding a large choice of garden plants carefully described in the manner of the old Hiller catalogue, there is also some trenchant advice on how to buy plants and the things that can go wrong.

'Plants are propagated here (not bought in) and become available and sell out all year. We are not Tesco's'

'Plants might be less than perfect. Youthful plants from a mass-producer would be fresh, disease-free, shapely and have flower buds just about to burst. But they're not from the real world and not used to life in the garden. Real plants are like organic vegetables used to be, They might look less than perfect but are likely to be better garden plants in the long run'.

'Plants succumb to disease quickly. They are probably not from the real world. They will have been grown soft, sprayed and subjected to a precise watering regime. Gardens are harsh environments. I have the knowledge to avoid buying plants like these, but if I did buy them I would recognise their perfection and harden them off slowly before planting them out. We don't sell these'.

'These are bomb-proof plants, suitable for neglectful gardeners'

'Why do the biggest and most vigorous plants always seem to end up planted by the path?'

'Never be sheep-led by a photographer'

In the descriptions too, there are also some wonderfully idiosyncratic asides, such as

Aeonium Goochiae 'Ballerina' - 'Miss Piggy in a tutu'
Allium Spherosephalum AGM - 'Loved by bees, butterflies and me'
Crytanthus Elatus AGM 'Known as the 'Scunthorpe Lily' by the callous'
Lonicera x Purpurii 'Winter Beauty' AGM - 'When it gets too big, raze it to the ground.'
Pachyphragma Macrophyllum - 'Never was such a pretty and welcome shrub damned by its name more'
Paeonia Lactiflora 'Duchesse de Nemours' - 'Classy, unlike the town.'
Penstemon Rubicundus - 'Brashness in November is very welcome'
Rosa Banksiae Lutea AGM - 'Flowers Apr-June that begin to appear when the plant is verbally threatened'
Sambucus Nigra f. Viridis - 'Can be eaten straight from the tree but some people may react to the cyanide by vomiting'
Stipa Tenuissima - 'The 'Andrex' of the grasses'
Viola Mandshurica 'Fuji Dawn' - Dubbed here 'The Scary Violet'
Thalictrum Flavium subsp. Glaucum 'Ruth Lyden-Bell - ' So tough and enduring that it has survived even in my sister-in-law's garden for many years'

....and probably many more that I have missed!






  

Memorial Trees and Roses at Old Swan House

The Orchard at Old Swan House

When I planted up the garden in 2014 my first order was of six fruit trees from Blackmoor Nurseries, Selborne to create an orchard where the vegetable garden had been. The trees were then planted in memory of particularly close friends, and each has a slate label at their base with their name and dates on. They are (with links to their eulogies):

Cherry 'Czar' - Nick Duke

Nick Duke (1945 - 2013) - a Czar cherry in the lower left next to the old Victoria plum.

James Grieve apple (Venky)

S. Venkitsewaran (Venky) (1941 - 2013) - a James Grieve apple on 'Venky's terrace'

Greengage St Julien (Jo Johns)

Jo Johns (1939 - 2014) - a St Julien Reine Claude greengage opposite Venky's terrace'

Mirabelle plum (Lucie Skipwith) 

Lucie Skipwith (1942 - 2014) - a Mirabelle plum close to the drive

Sunburst cherry (Annie May)

Annie May 1944 - 2014) - a Sunburst cherry next to the old damson

A Conference Pear (Nicky Boyle)

Nicky Boyle closest to the garage and drive 

                                     A quince tree commemorating Bill Birch Reynardson (1923 - 2107)

In addition to the fruit trees in the orchard there are two roses:

Sally Wilson-Young / Macpherson (1940 - 2012) - a Mme Alfred Carriere rose planted on the eastern wall

Rose Banksii alba (Kate O'Brian) 

Kate O'Brien 1953 - 2017) - a white Banksian rose planted under the hazel tree on the eastern wall.

Old Swan House Garden in Spring 2020

It's been the finest spring weather that I can remember with almost continuous sunshine since late March. The grasses came down then too and immediately started sending up new green growth The pheasant grass that I had been worried about needed some careful cutting out of dead leaves, but is now growing more strongly. It's the only grass that doesn't get cut down.

We had a couple of very wet days in early April but they were necessary to water everything and refill the pond.

As I write this, on 23rd April, the forecast is for more sunshine, and so I have continued to water the box as well as any new planting - including last year's black bamboos and this year's euphorbia wulfenii. I decided to replace some of the wulfenii as they were getting too leggy.

A few of the box needed attention as some of them had been partially stripped, but all are growing strongly again and producing new growth.

The orchard has done particularly well this year and although there were a couple of frosts, they don't seem to have damaged the blossom, which is now largely set. It would be wonderful to have a good fruit season as last year's was mixed - good for apples and pears and Victoria and Czar plums, but no damsons, greengage, cherries or Mirabelle. Incidentally, Bruce Williams trims the fruit trees (as well as the box) and they are now all perfectly shaped thanks to his ministrations.

Apple blossom in the orchard

Katya has tied the roses in to the wall and left a beautiful tracery of canes that promise abundant flowers this year.

Mme Aldred Carriere - Sally's rose - beautifully tied in. It was surplus to requirements at the Old Rectory until rescued by Katya. 

The lawn (as someone said in another context, 'the silence between the notes' - was scarified in the autumn and hasn't quite recovered. Fortunately, Lawntech have just decided that they can, after all, continue their quarterly treatment and it is already improving with a spring top dressing.

 

Lastly, I took a video of the garden at dusk, turning on the lights as I went round. It's come out quite well

Titian at the National Gallery - Love, Desire, Death

‘Death of Actaeon’ (about 1559-75), the National Gallery, London

The National Gallery have organised an astonishing exhibition - Titian - Love, Desire, Death, that  unites all six paintings, in a series that Titian referred to as the 'poesie', for the first time in over 400 years. Ironically, the exhibition opened in March 2020 just as the Coronavirus restrictions prevented the public from visiting; a shocking event that perfectly demonstrates the cruel and capricious way in which the Gods play with our lives. 

'Danaë’ (about 1551–3), The Wellington Collection, Apsley House

The scene is based on the story of the Princess Danae recounted briefly by Ovid and at greater length by Boccaccio. She was isolated in a bronze tower following a prophecy that her firstborn would eventually kill her father. Although aware of the consequences, Danaë was seduced and became pregnant by Zeus / Jupiter, who, inflamed by lust, descended from Mount Olympus to seduce her in the form of a shower of gold.

‘Venus and Adonis’ (1554), Prado, Madrid

Venus tries to stop her lover from departing for the hunt, fearing—correctly—that he would be killed. The mood of sensuality, conveyed by the beautiful depiction of Venus, seen from the back, enhances the viewer’s sense of the tragic end to this story, expressed through their exchanged glances and the frightened Cupid. 

     ‘Diana and Callisto’, (1556–9) National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland

The nymph Callisto was the favourite of Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt. Jupiter, king of the gods, noticed her beauty and disguised himself in order to seduce her. Titian has painted the moment Diana forces Callisto to strip and bathe after hunting and discovers her pregnancy.

‘Rape of Europa’ (1559–62) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

This is the story of the abduction of Europa by Zeus / Jupiter. Europa is sprawled helplessly on her back, her clothes in disarray. In the myth, the god assumed the form of a bull and enticed Europa to climb onto his back. Once there, the bull rode into the sea and carried her to Crete where he revealed his real identity. Europa became the first Queen of Crete, and had three children with Zeus. The painting depicts Europa on the back of the bull, just off the shore of her homeland.

‘Perseus and Andromeda’ (probably 1554–6), The Wallace Collection, London


Perseus and Andromeda is perhaps the most dramatic of all of these paintings. Andromeda is shown chained to a rock as a sacrifice to appease the sea monster, who had been sent by Neptune to punish her mother for claiming that she and Andromeda were more beautiful than the Nereids. The hero Perseus swoops down to rescue her, his powerful vertiginous descent contrasting vividly with her passive vulnerability.

Diana and Actaeon

This painting portrays the moment in which the hunter Actaeon bursts into where the goddess Diana and her nymphs are bathing. Diana is furious and turns Actaeon into a stag, who is then pursued and killed by his own hounds, a scene Titian later painted in 'The Death of Actaeon' (see below)

'Death of Actaeon’ (about 1559-75), the National Gallery, London

This is the sequel to Titian's Diana and Actaeon showing the story's tragic conclusion, which approximately follows the Roman poet's account. After Actaeon surprised the goddess Diana bathing naked in the woods, she transformed him into a stag and he is attacked and killed by his own hounds.

The paintings are inspired by stories taken from Ovid’s 'Metamorphoses' and other classical works and were almost all painted for Prince Philip of Spain (later King Philip) over 10 years from about 1551 to 1562.

Ovid's poems provided Titian with tales from a world where capricious and cruel immortals play havoc with the lives of men and women. The paintings all have themes of seduction, disguise and power.

Click here for the National Gallery Facebook page where the two 'Diana' painting are discussed

Click here for the fascinating BBC programme which discusses the exhibition 

See also Favourite Writings - Ovid 

And finally, I can't resist adding another similar painting, 'Bacchus and Ariadne' by Luca Giodarno, that hangs in the Herbert Gallery and Museum, Coventry. 

'It is a virtuoso reinterpretation and expansion of Titian's famous painting of 'Bacchus and Ariadne' which is now in the National Gallery, London. It tells a story which was popular in classical times and in the renaissance. Theseus had killed the Minotaur and escaped from the Labyrinth by means of a ball of string given to him by Ariadne. He took Ariadne off with him in his ship but (this is where the painting begins) abandons her on the island of Naxos. She holds the string and gazes at his vanishing sail, but behind her Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry arrives to comfort her.' The story is further immortalised in Richard Strauss's semi-comic opera, 'Ariadne Auf Naxos' 

See also 'The Lasting legacy of Ovid'