I have just finished reading Mary Keen’s recent article in the Telegraph - swiftly followed by a look through your website - and thought I would send you my (probably incoherent) initial thoughts.

First, outrage. Then, intrigued….

I have visited Hadspen just once, in the summer of 2004, and it remains with me. Not particularly the gorgeous planting itself, but the extraordinary sense of place - that rather disturbing feeling that I was revisiting somewhere I knew of old.

The memory of moving through the spaces is particularly strong - the very theatrical walk along the top of the carp pond, entering the walled garden (from the Western doorway) and that sense of anticipation. So I smiled at the “lack of structure” appearing as a weakness in the very thorough SWOT analysis!

The actual spectrum walk around the inside of the parabola wall I remember as a feeling of gluttony, of almost careering down the quickening slope. Through the avenue of trees then back uphill through the yellows, past that big empty yellow pot, a feeling of elation.

It seems that the FOA design is aimed, likewise, at creating a space very much to move through (not sit down!), and to maximise the viewers
Appreciation of the planting in as dynamic a fashion as possible - especially the logic leading to the saw-tooth path sections.

I appreciate that the imposed 1:20 “comfort gradient” is the very source of the design. But I keep trying to imagine the experience, how it will affect the sense of place. To walk directly along the curve of the gradient (like sheep - the tracks they leave along hill sides) is fine and comfortable. To walk across (i.e. straight up or down) seems to me more instinctive than to cut diagonally, I think. This characteristic could I am sure be harnessed. The walker will chose, and will sometimes (surely) dare to break the rules, stride across or even through. Would the zig-zag route make its walker feel manipulated, even foolish? It may be interesting to feel foiled, led a dance. The theme of temptation might be particularly apt in the context of a produce garden…(which is also rather womb-like!…another whole set of ideas there)

What about these points - road blocks? Or areas simply becoming impassable
as growth progresses? Does this garden have a lifespan envisaged - can it be planned to close in on itself in an active engulfing way?

It strikes me you have an amazing retail opportunity too. Hadspen surely means colour - and this, together with the public’s appetite for the “potting shed” image, would surely create a potent internet brand. If you were interested - happen?

This entry was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 9:17 am and is filed under Correspondence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.