Post-Bling Tristesse

As the nights draw in and the socks get thicker, we cannot help but look back longingly at the summer just gone. Here at the Castle we had all sorts of fun this summer, but the highlight for us would have been the fascinating House of Bling exhibition, which ran in the middle of August.

One part of the exhibition was Sarah Price’s garden installation in the old stable block. Sarah is an up and coming landscape designer; she is one of the designers collaborating on the 2012 Olympic Park garden designs, and drew inspiration for her ‘reframing the picturesque’ installation from the period in the castle’s history where it lay abandoned and neglected. During this time, nature found its way back into the castle plants inhabited the space. Sarah used grasses and wild flowers reminiscent of the vegetation which may have once occupied the castle ruins to create a garden where you would least expect it.

Today, the reality the season’s end is upon us hits home as the garden is lovingly dismantled and normality is returned to the stable block. All the plants are being dug up, and are to be moved on to some local schools and moved into another Sarah Price design within the school grounds.

We draw consolation from our seasonal melancholy by looking forward to next year; and we have already started drawing up a schedule of events which should give everyone plenty to look forward to.