Tomorrow is the opening day of an exhibition entitled The Secret Garden at the Garden Museum in London. It’s dedicated to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s book The Secret Garden. This title rings a bell in the old mind. Am fairly sure I read this book in a very distant young age. A secret garden may be defined as a sheltered, secluded or private area of the garden. Preferably enclosed or at least partially hidden from view. If you consult an online search engine with the definition, the abovementioned book will rate high. Fiction is all very well, but the allure of a secret garden is as real as it comes. Especially southern Europe is good at this. A plain door, or elaborate for that matter, may be the entrance to a truly amazing green space. I’ve seen it many times, when you least expect it.
An outstanding example of a secret garden is Le Jardin Secret in Marrakech, which I visited a few years ago. I believe I have mentioned it before. The ambience and beauty of that space is surreal.
If I’m lucky I will next year visit the Fiesta de los Patios in Córdoba, Spain. I had a taster, or at least I think so, of what I might find there in Seville a couple of years ago. One day walking past a door that was usually closed, it was open and tada, look what I found! I felt as excited as Mary Lennox …
