Secret Gardens 

Horniman Museum Gardens - Lewisham
Mertoun House; Bemersyde House - Scottish Borders

i. Horniman House
 CLEAN UP AFTER YOUR DOG
 PLEASE USE THIS BIN
 Notices assert
 above luscious spiny brambles.
 Imminent screams of fair-weather mowing
 swamp the heavy hum
 of London
 traffic lights say stop
 and go
 And Lewisham is crowned
 by the mound of glory
 that was Horniman.
 
It's humid.
 Damp patches form geographic outlines
 on the heaved tarmacked paths.
 The earth has moved.
 
The air smells of autumn, exhaust, and dog shit.
 
Twigs
 Drop in the bushes,
 Rustle surprisingly,
 Drily
 Behind me.

ii. Mertoun House
 PARK HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK
 PUT £2 IN THE BOX
 GARDENS CLOSE .... (LATER)
 Wandering down the path
 We stroll, alone,
 to the squat doo cot*          (*dove cote) 
 - oldest in all the land.
 On up the hill we pant
 to the kitchen garden
 spreading vertically
 
Fantastically full of giant cabbages
 and fading flowers, long stalks
 bent by recent rain.

iii. At Horniman House
 the turn of the season shows in the trees
 as lorries thunder past
 and blackbirds whistle bravely
 in their branches.
 
Clouds clump overhead
 though there's a chink of brightness
 in the distance.
 
The wind is rising,
 
Chestnuts are swollen,
 pendulous,
 about to fall from dark, ragged hands.
 
Opposite,
 the skeleton of a sculptural tree
 stands
 in perfect pyramidal symmetry.
 This one will not renew.

iv. A gardener wheels his barrow.
 We smile shyly.
 I wonder how we co-exist in this space
 Or anywhere.

v. The walled garden is a riot
 of browns, oranges, reds and yellows -
 A sumptuous vision.
 This sunken place reminds me of the faded one
 at Bemersyde
 declining gracefully
 amid mown grass and tumbled paving
 To stumble over
 delicately
 By kind permission of another  benevolent owner.

vi. Along a mile-long track
 bordered by swathes of green bluebell spikes
 (we must come back in May)
 We reach the rushing river
 swirling over rocks
 The rusty water tanned from peat and
 oddly lapping in small bankside pools.

vii. At Horniman House
 wisteria and roses bush over the pergola.
 CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 14  MUST
 BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT.
 
 PLEASE KEEP TO THE PATH.
 PLEASE DO NOT RUN.

viii. Mertoun House
 There's no-one else
 Except ourselves
 At dusk
 We're walking in a cloud of cool moisture
 Everywhere is green.
 Scented green.
 And quiet
 Except for the celebrations of the birds.

(c) Kate Williams MacKenzie 2002