urban parks - visions manifested



The terraced house where I live only has a small courtyard garden, but I am lucky to live next to a wonderful urban park - itself a kind of garden, albeit a public rather than a private one. What amazes me about Bedford Park (in the town of Bedford, that is, not the Bedford Park in London) is that the Victorian gardeners who designed it in the 1880s could never see what I see 130 years later. The magnificent pines and firs were barely half the size of a person when put in the ground - now look at them! 

Except that they did see what I see - with the eye of imagination. Not only did they envision it, but they intended it and put those intentions into action. Their vision was materialized, even if it took over a century to manifest and fully come to pass as the trees reach maturity. Long after the brief span of their own lives was over. Not for them to receive the benefit of their visionary work, but for generations yet to come. 

Baron & Sons of Derby were contracted by the local authorities to level the ground, lay out the paths and carriageways, excavate the lake and plant over 18000 trees and shrubs. It took six years. The park was opened in 1888. You can read more about the history of the park here. For a tree trail and map, click here.

If only we could adopt their forward-looking, one-hundred-years-in-advance, inter-generational thinking - making a world fit for our great-great-grandchildren as they did for theirs...

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