Friday 22 May 2009

bugs, butterflies, bark

over the last month, I have tended to cut through the gardens of Erasmus Darwin House rather than walk on the street for the final bit of my car-office commute . Most people access the gardens via the archway below my office, but few realise that you can come in from Beacon Street directly. Erasmus is, of course, Charles Darwin's grandfather, coming up with a coherent theory of evolution nearly 70 years before his grandson did.
Hidden in amongst this wonderful Herb Garden are some of the most striking flowers and plants I've seen in ages, and it has been a regular refresher before spending the day slaving of a hot computer. EDH is due to close for refurbishments during June, but the the gardens will remain accessible and free and fabulous during this time.

The Festival's Education team was planning to hold nature-themed arts activities at EDH for under 5s on the day the festival opens (9 July). Called Bugs, Butterflies and Bark, this wee event has proven so popular that we've had to schedule an extra day on the day before the Festival (8 July), and that too is on the cusp of reaching capacity.
The winning enquiry so far is from a woman who call the Festival Office wanting to speak to the person organising this participatory event, wondering if she was able to get advice about the bees nesting in her roof. Would any apiologists please step forward...

4 comments:

Halldor said...

Nice place to work! Some lovely pictures of the herb garden and its residents here .

Richard Hawley said...

as soon as i posted, I remembered that a picture would have helped, so thanks for this link (with a gentle nod to my neighbour Erasmus Bunny). More good photos can be found via here.

The Lichfield Blog said...

Thanks for the comment - glad to see you're reading our site!

Richard Hawley said...

Thanks in return LichfieldBlog. I read your site more than you could know.