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ARTICLES BY JULES  

Jules Evans

writer & Gardener

I thought it was time to update my profile page on CWN because it’s nearly eighteen months since I retired from my gardening job due to the closure of the hotel I worked for. Those gardens were beautiful and very special; incorporating the large main hotel, a rambling, former 16th century rectory, further scattered apartments throughout the grounds which incorporated damson, apple and plum trees, deciduous woodlands, tennis courts, rockeries, formal lawns surrounded by herbaceous borders, and a tarn (pond) stocked with mature carp. Having been extraordinarily happy in my employment there, I decided that perhaps it was time to give my ‘gardener’s back’ less punishment and my computer keyboard a lot more!

Happily for me, there’s no way I’ll be hanging up my gardening boots and favourite spade because I have a large garden of my own that requires year round attention. The traditional stone walls surround an old orchard of apple plum, pear and damson trees, herb and vegetable patch, a collection of wobbly old outbuildings and an even wobblier old greenhouse. At the bottom of the garden there’s a large pond regularly visited by mallards and a stealthy heron that glides in and takes off again with silent flaps of his pale grey wings.

This is more than can be said for the loud quacks and noisy splash-downs that accompany the arrival of the ducks! Other inhabitants of the pond include a healthy population of frogs, toads, and newts. In late summer, huge dragonflies hover like mini helicopters over its surface, and damsel flies of red and electric blue haunt the pondweed.

Helping to keep the munching armies of slugs and snails under control, we have at least two resident hedgehogs (there may be more) living among cosy, thick mounds of leaves under the wobbly sheds.

Adjacent to the pond is the poultry pen and a small ark that presently houses a dwindling collection of red hybrid hens and a solitary black rock who likes to think that she is ruler of the roost. I hope to buy more varieties this year so if you are interested in poultry, watch this space. Presently, though, in February 2006, the threat of avian flu hovers like a raging dragon poised to incinerate, in a single torching breath, all the hapless victims of the virus.

Under this thunderous cloud, European poultry keepers, whether commercial rearers or those of us who are hobbyists keeping hens and ducks for the pure enjoyment and, of course, the delicious free range eggs, wait and watch the news bulletins.

The creative activities of gardening and writing combine well. Writing is about conjuring scenes, landscapes, and characters with evocative words, whilst gardening offers the opportunity to create attractive scenes with natural materials and plants. Both activities can have a lasting impact on those who encounter them. In order to write, whether it’s poetry, fiction, Haiku, factual articles, newsletters, or simply a nice long letter to a friend, you need inspiration and little else inspires more than working outside among living, growing things. The added interest and contrasting colours of the changing seasons always provides something fresh to write about.

Living in Cumbria UK with my husband, Ed, Spyder our lurcher, and Daisy – my never far away cat, I feel fortunate to have regular opportunities to visit the wilderness areas of the English Lake District. Cumbria is not a large county compared with others, but you’d easily think it was because within its borders are so many different areas. In some areas it’s possible to imagine yourself in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Scandinavia or even the Italian lakes. Majestic fells, pine-fringed clear waters, and ancient tarns lying hidden among the contours of even the steepest climbs, lead you to believe that you could be in any number of different countries.

High on the most inhospitable mountain passes, evidence of Roman occupation still begs to be explored, and before the Romans landed and legions laboured to secure the land with forts and boundary walls, bronze age and iron age people had already claimed the wild, rocky regions for themselves. Their settlements, enclosure walls, and stone circles are a silent and enduring testimony to their lives. Later, Vikings and Saxons also left their signature and, for me, it’s often town and village names that make me wonder. Passing signposts in our cars we slow down to read them and check maps to make sure of our destination, but often we give little attention to the origins of those strange and interesting names.

Walking the fells, forests and farmlands and watching the wild and domestic animals and birds in those places gives me tremendous pleasure and I’m always conscious – awe-struck even, that so very many former generations have walked the paths I tread now to reach homes, work place, grazing lands or trading places – no matter how steep and rocky the track or how harsh the weather. It’s a landscape I love passionately and am very keen to help preserve.

The same landscape inspires me to weave the things I see around me into my writing whether in factual articles or fictional stories, and to re-create the landscape I love, albeit on much smaller scale, in pockets of our garden.

Readers of the gardening and wildlife pages on the Creative Women’s Network site will already be aware that, so far, we have published articles about frogs, compost making, conserving red squirrels (new on the articles pages), helping hedgehogs and, in the environmental pages, Exciting Theme Park or Dirty Danger Zone! This article examines some of the many ways our children might be encouraged to appreciate the countryside.

Throughout 2006 we’ll provide regular seasonal gardening updates and wildlife news mainly relevant to the UK. There’ll also be recipes for delicious meals made with organically grown vegetables, herbs and orchard fruits. Watch this space …

Wherever you live, in any way you are able, give the trees and plants, animals and birds, and all the creatures you daily encounter, the respect that is due to them. They share our wonderfully diverse planet and we are all inescapably interlinked. They fall and we will fall, they suffer and we will suffer.


ABOUT JULES

Occupation: Writer and Gardener
Birthplace: Bedfordshire UK
Birth sign: Cancerian
Fav places: British Isles, Eire, Atlas Mountains, Scandinavia
Fav books: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown – what a superb writer? Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris The Genesis Code by John Case
Musicians: Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits
TV progs: Don’t watch much but Time Team is a must, also, Frost, Meet The Ancestors, anything archaeological, University Challenge, Only Fools and Horses.
Fav comfort food:Welsh Rarebit topped with poached egg–M’mm, delicious!
Fav drinks: Teas, various, or a large white wine, please, depending on the hour!
Fav animals: Horses, dogs, cats, Herdwick sheep – Sheep? Yes, really!
Dress: Jeans, boots, long skirts, big shirts– love buying jackets and Irish shawls!
Fav cultures: American Indian, Berber, Romany.
Ideal getaway: Right now it’s Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, or a Gypsy caravan in Donegal, Ireland.