Wednesday 10 February 2010

Goodbye Albion Road

Well, after years of pondering the future of the housing market, and fretting over whether we could leave our lovely flat behind for pastures new, we have taken the plunge and sold our flat. Even though we have spent tens of thousands on improving the bloomin place, it was the garden that is hardest to leave behind.

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We moved here before we had children, and looking back our plants were more like pets than plants. We collected, we categorised, we watched them grow. We poured our hearts into this garden, and to be honest we filled it with our dreams and aspirations of life.

May 08 001

As our first garden, it gave us the chance to put into practice all the garden designs we had locked in our heads over the years of living in flats without gardens. All the plants we were desperate to grow, all the ideas we were desperate to try. Now it is time to move on. The children need more space (as do we), and the new garden will give us the chance to design it around them.

I hope the new owners enjoy the garden as much as we have. It has become rather neglected of late, because we spend all our garden energy on the allotments, but I hope they will restore it to something of its former glory. I daren't post a photo as it looks today - it is a ruin and a sad shadow of its former self. Five years ago, our cleaners thought we were gardeners for a living, which was flattering. Since then, all our tender plants have been killed off by two successive freezing winters. Now no-one could think this garden was cared for - as we have become more and more frustrated by all the setbacks in trying to move house, we have become more and more resentful and neglectful of the place we once loved.


This makes me reflect on how quickly nature takes over where man leaves off. The circle of life and the way that we busy ourselves creating stuff during our lifetime and then hand it on to someone else to do their own thing when we depart. Moving is a time of reflection anyway, so my emotions are finely tuned.

So here is the swansong of our flat garden, a place where many many happy times have been had and many memories will remain, before we say a welcome to the new garden at the new house, pictured below.

8 comments:

  1. We are also moving this year, and I have been having similar feelings about leaving the house as well as the garden, after all the hard work we have put into it over the last 10 years. But I must say I'm looking forward to starting again, hopefully avoiding any mistakes I have made here!

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  2. It's hard not to look back at what you are leaving behind, but this is an exciting time really. Your new garden is a blank canvas waiting for you to make your own mark on it.

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  3. Oh! Good luck with the move. Hope it goes smoothly for you and hope you are staying local?
    I must say your new garden looks like the perfect "block of nothing" or "football pitch" for you to get stuck into. Can't wait to see before and after pictures in a year (or two).

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  4. It's sad to leave behind all those memories not to mention the hard work involved in creating such a wonderful home and garden. But nothing ventured nothing gained - you now have a blank canvas where you can start afresh and create a wonderful space for your family.

    The best of luck with your move

    Jeanne

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  5. Wishing you good times and happy plotting in your new garden - I'm sure it will soon be beautiful, let's hope the summer will be good so you can enjoy it with your family.

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  6. Oh I wish you lots of luck and happy times in your new home. You both made your present garden beautiful, so you know you can do it again. Just remember to take the fairy dust and plant some magic for the girls.
    Have a great week-end. x

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  7. Thank you all, haven't been able to visit due to lack of broadband access! However, the nice cable guys came round the other day so I am now back online from the new house.

    It's kind of a mixed blessing at present, with lots to do.

    However, it will be so much fun watching things growing in the new space, and making it our own.

    Tomorrow we might get our pot plants (mainly box and bay) back which will help to home-ify the place, so I might post a before and after!

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  8. I am so glad you have moved congratulations on your new home and may you all be blessed with good health, happiness and loads of love there.
    Bye the way thought you might like to know that COX and COX - http://www.coxandcox.co.uk/ sell little tins of 'Fairy Mints' might interest your little fairies !!
    Have a happy day and it's St Patrick's day of course.
    M x

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