Marion invited me to this garden I’ve been meaning to visit, just an hour from me, in the place of my birth. I always feel ambivalent arriving in Norwich: that pull of place of birth, from Dereham outings and shopping with my mother, and a life long desire to return there, together with the realisation now that that habitation will not happen.
It was an unexpected pleasure to meet one who could have been a friend there, xxx, who welcomed us with ease and introduced us explorers to the Marlpit Forest Garden. Just off the Dereham Road in Norwich, presumably on marl soil, it is in the Wensum valley,a triangle of 8-10 acres surrounded and protected by tall willow, poplar, cherry, maple trees, a fertile land. It is shared with multiple communities, who meet once a month for a shared dinner, on regular days for garden, forest garden etc, and ad hoc events, which include death tending by Shona – when will do our pilgrimage to Dereham?
Jeanie and Glen came from Debenham (Glen with news of their community energy project in Framsden which I must relay), one from London came, and an interesting man from Attleburgh who was just creating on a patch of land.
It was a meander around grassy paths. Indeed the grass was surely a challenge to the plants – lots of cardboard used as supressent. I recognised a few co-op baskets as protectors (good idea) and the more creative idea of making willow domes (as I once did at the Coppice gathering) for climbing protection.
I’ve named the plants in the photographs below. Sea Buckthorn, the pepper tree and lots of berries.
Stimulating conversations. With Rose Baulcombe, a trustee, I see, and one who’d dined with Martin and Ann at Wakelyns. XXX who’d started the WhatsApp group, with open face and mind, who Marion had known for years but just met face to face today.
