Monday, May 10, 2021

Mad Boy: A Little Madness in the Garden

 No detail for your garden is too small.  Apologies, for decades, overlooking the obvious, below.

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Notice the pigeons?

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They're dyed.

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The owner's grandfather began the tradition, she, his granddaughter, Sofka, continues it.  There's even a fan club, aka Trust, "Pink Pigeons Trust (named after the Mad Boy's habit of dyeing birds in jewelled hues)."

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He dyed his pigeons jewel tones, was nicknamed, Mad Boy, and had a stunning garden.  Hope there is a heaven, and Mad Boy is busy in his celestial garden, awaiting all of us to visit.  What types of ideas and mischief's will Mad Boy create during his infinity?  He's on my list, Gardens to Visit.   

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This reminds me, must finally, faithfully, turn off the wireless at night.  A dear friend, an RN, said she began turning hers off, her dream world began again.  Didn't realize till mentioned, my dreaming has been turned 'off'.  Worth it to visit Mad Boy's garden.  Hope you've been gifted with travel dreams too.

 

  

Garden Design: Classic color combination, above, it will never fail you: Green, White, Brown.

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How Mad Boy's granddaughter is living in the house & garden:

    "Her day usually begins with writing in her study and she takes pleasure in arranging flowers for the house, mixing the more formal ones with wildflowers, wood anemones, hyacinths, tulips and fritillaries that grow in profusion in the long grass that borders the driveway. It is a short meander down the drive into the charming market town of Faringdon, where the excellent Hare in the Woods delicatessen provides Sofka and Vassilis with delicious salads for a working kitchen lunch and something for a relaxed supper with Leo and Annabelle, who live nearby."

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Owner of the house/garden, Sofka Zinovieff, above.

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Had the good fortune, last summer, to find her chair, above, in a small Southern town with no red lights or fast food.  Plate on the bottom reads, By Special Appointment to His Majesty The King, Warings, Oxford Street - London.....

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Placed the chair in the library, and it moves often to kitchen or office....Like Sofka, above, the chair 'fits' my body.  Knew from first sit, it was a chair for office and pleasure reading.  A surprise, I like it for meals too.  Under-priced, it was  on sale.  I did not negotiate lower.  One must keep integrity.    

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Sofka and her husband, preparing for a meal, below.

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All pics/quotes, House & Garden: Faringdon House, "The extraordinary story of Faringdon House: the Palladian gem immortalised in Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. The eccentric Lord Berners, the inspiration for the character Lord Merlin, unexpectedly left the house to the 25 year old writer Sofka Zinovieff. Here we revisit our April 2016 piece on the extraordinary story of this home as the BBC adaptation hits screens."

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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara


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