The Weed Gardens
Entry posted by caldrail
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Yesterday, in a decision that only an englishman could make, I went out in the midday sun and visited Lydiard Park. The local council make a big deal of the work they've done there which was supposed to restore the grounds of Lydiard Manor to it's former magnificence.
I've got many photographs of Lydiard as it was. Secluded bayous, wooded paths, a warm natural patina. There used to be a waterside platform where you could look out across a small lake and view cranes resting on a dead tree in the centre of the water. It all had a picturesque quality to it, something very ideal and to be honest a place where you could marvel at the beauty of nature in a very subtle way. It was, by accident, as close to principles of a japanese garden as you could get. Tranquil.
Not any more. The woodland has been cut back, the bayous swept away to recreate the old lake, everything opened up to the sun in an attempt to make the place more attractive to lots of people who really don't appreciate natural beauty much, and I suspect, attempted by people who don't much appreciate it either. It now looks exactly what it is. A weed infested demolition site. The lake is cold and artificial (not to mention stagnant), the gravel paths bare and garish, the woodland peripheral and unwanted. You might best describe Lydiard Park as a bird with it's plumage well and truly plucked.
There was a time you could visit Lydiard and return refreshed from experiencing the natural warmth. Now you either play ball games or get bored by it. After all the money they spent on tearing the place apart, you'd think there was something to show for it. Oh yes. I forgot. I see they've just installed a fountain in the lake. Well that makes all the difference doesn't it?
Weedy Swindon
The decay and wanton vandalism of Lydiard Park isn't unique in Swindon. Around the borough are areas where buildings are lying abandoned or demolished. The same pale gravelly landscape and its weedy foliage are well established. There's a house under construction near where I live which still has brick and breeze block walls two foot high. The weeds have grown faster. The Old College site looks ever more dilapidated every day, more broken windows, more weeds sprouting under the vandalised wooden fence around it. For a town that's been promoting regeneration and beautification, it all looks like a lot of hot air and incompetence. Oh yeah. Weeds too.
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