The good life in miniature

摘要

There was a brief time when we were a two-dishwasher family. think my ears would bleed ifI aspired to such dizzy heights ofaffluence now, but I have not escaped the aspirational, consumer-hungry world completely because we are now a two-orchard household. Look on and dream, ye lesser mortals, for of such abundance Eden is made.Well, sort of. One orchard was planted 20 years ago and is reaching a kind of maturity dominated by apple trees on standard and semi-standard rootstocks - MM111 and MM106 - set in grass filled with narcissi bulbs in spring, then allowed to grow long andfloat with cow parsley and lesser hemlock before having a weekly trim until autumn. From time to time we have had lambs grazing beneath the trees and once, rather destructively, three splendid pigs. There are also flower beds, a soft fruit area, bee hives, a chicken run (alas, no chickens at the moment) and a couple of sheds. It is a 'proper place', complete unto itself, bounded by tall hedges that lead to fields beyond. It is lovely, luxurious and takes up the kind of space that only a generous country garden can afford to spare.