Inside The King's garden

...or to be more accurate, inside The King's lavatory, inside The King's garden.

I took this in case I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the plants.

I wasn't!

An intriguing visit to Highgrove Garden's. The planting was amazing, diverse and rich. A bit like Vita Sackville West's Sissinghurst, but with a larger global interest and a lot of rewilding. As I expected the place was packed with insects, butterflies and the largest dragon fly I have ever seen.

What was more baffling was the choice of sculpture. Not the reclaimed ecclesiastical brick or dry stone walling but (for example) a relief plaque of the late Queen Mother which (from a distance) looked like it had rusty knives sticking out of it. It reminded me of the Knife Angel.

On closer inspection the 'knives' were shards of wood, but the effect was unsettling.

As were the busts of "people he admires". Of the 8 or so on the lintel of a gate I recognised only John Tavener and the Dutchess of Devonshire. None of the sculptures were particularly flattering. Even the guide commented that "If these are the people he likes, imagine how the people he doesn't like would look".

But back to the garden. 

I would have happily taken my socks off to walk through the grass covered pathways (not allowed). Spent hours looking at the seed library of rare apples, and wallowed in the herbs, but there you go. Lucky man and talented gardener. 

I think I learned a lot about our King today. Fascinating and unexpected.