We’re very pleased and relieved that this garden has been built. I remember singing a song at school about foolish men building on the sand, so when this project came my way, the words ‘footings’ and ‘piles’ (you know exactly the sort I mean) were kind of uppermost in my mind. I didn’t want this garden to go anywhere, and actually what was here had spent a few million years being shifted around and moved about daily.
This is the reality
Hurricane Katya had decided to have a last dance on our shores, and it wasn’t a waltz. I discovered interesting things about coastal planting, one of which is that saltspray actually works the same way as hair gel
I also learned a lot by googling groynes when researching the sea defence we were building. My advice: don’t. At least not when a ten year-old child is peering over your shoulder.
But we did make some good ones
Talking of ten year-olds, I’ve just been asked whether Mussolini’s stringing up in Piazzale Loreto was the inspiration for piñatas. Who’s to say?
