The Elizabeth Daryush Memorial Garden, Boars Hill, 25th October 2014

By Andrew -
Following the cancellation of the scheduled Geo Conservation session at Lye Hill Quarry, we were fortunate to find that our services were needed at Boars Hill, on Oxford Preservation Trust land, which is managed by BBOWT. This time it was a new site, the Elizabeth Daryush Memorial Garden.

 Elizabeth Daryush was a poetess, the daughter of the poet Robert Bridges. She and her Persian husband lived at the house called Stockwell on Boar's Hill and they donated the garden to the Oxford Preservation Trust. A few yards from the entrance is a large pond with two benches beside it and two large sweet chestnut trees. The rest of the garden is mostly rough grassland with trees around the edge and one or two more benches.

 Green Gym's task was to clear some of the bramble bushes and small trees in the middle and at the  edge of the field. We met at the usual meeting place and then squeezed into fewer cars to drive up the narrow road towards the Youlbury scout camp. having parked in the rather limited spaces at the roadside, we unloaded and proceeded through the gate and down to the lower end of the garden, where we set up camp. The weather was dry and fairly sunny but the overnight rain had resulted in dripping trees. We set to work at once, being careful to avoid the rabbit holes we had been warned about. With Kevin plodding up and down with pitchfork loads of brambles, we soon had several heaps.

 After a welcome stop for coffee, tea and biscuits we carried on lopping and sawing but eventually had to stop, to give ourselves time to tidy up and transport the remaining piles down to the fence. There is still a great deal of work to do on this site, but we all enjoyed working in this beautiful area and look forward to coming back.
-Eleanor
Petra tackles a tree

Removing a bramble patch

Kevin with a load of brambles

Tea break

The notice board

The pond and Autumn trees

Sweet chestnut trees

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