Visit this lush natural garden in the heart of Wiltshire

Visit this Lush Natural Garden in the Heart of Wiltshire

Great-Aunt Mabel: ninety-two, wheelchair-bound, avid armchair gardener, royal pain in the nether regions. And it’s my luck to be pushing her around this blooming garden.

‘Closer, child. Just smell those roses.’

‘You know, I’ve read about this garden.’

Aunt Mabel snorts.

‘Onward! The colour of that lavender!’

Two sturdy brown legs emerge from behind the delphiniums.  He’s not, is he? Yep, just the boots and gardening gloves. Mabel can’t help but stare – filched lavender cutting held aloft between bony forefinger and thumb.

‘You can admire all you like madam, but please don’t pinch what isn’t yours.’

Told you this garden was famous.

M J Lewis©2016

Actually, the famous naked gardener of Abbey House Gardens of Malmesbury in Wiltshire also used to wear a rather fetching tool belt, but that would have pushed me beyond the Friday Fiction 100 words.

And apparently you folks in the US also have a long history of poetry, gardening and nudity, via Walt Whitman.

Don’t have a clip of Walt, but here’s a very British (clothed) interviewer on Country File visiting Abbey House Gardens. Sadly I think it’s clothes-on every day now at Malmesbury and the famous clothes-optional visiting days are no more. Think I’ll just take up naked bathing, in my own bathroom.

Many thanks to our gracious host Rochelle,to John Nixon for the strange photo prompt (which it has to be said has produced some very weird stories, mine included) and to all who visit.