Today I am heading to the UK to lead two garden tours in England, Wales and Ireland, starting in Manchester, then to the Lake District and North Wales, then over to Dublin and southern Ireland and from there down to London for the magnificent Chelsea Flower Show.
More than 60 people are coming with me; 30 on each tour. It is going to wonderful.
To get my groups ready for this trip of a life time, I sent everyone a little worksheet containing links to movies, videos and songs as a kind of cultural preparation for the adventure.
In Manchester, I want us to started by visiting The Lowry, a special art gallery devoted to the works of L.S. Lowry, the early 20th century Salford painter who had an immense influence on the English art scene. I love his work and have a print of one of his paintings on the wall.
His work expresses and encapsulates a lot of the gritty quality and history of this unique region of northern England.
To get everyone in the spirit, I suggested that they listen to a charming 1978 tribute to Lowry, a popular song by Brian and Michael, called Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs.
Also I thought they would really enjoy seeing the black and white 1956 BBC documentary on Lowry.
It still is an amazing piece of TV journalism and a timeless interview with the man himself. I love the way he says “I just paint they way I see it.”
Since we are going to the Lake District, I thought they should also watch a movie about Beatrix Potter.
Although Potter was from London, she found a lot of inspiration for her stories in the Lake District, where she eventually settled down.
She ended up buying and donating hundreds of acres of property to the National Trust. Wonderful story of generosity and foresight.
Miss Potter is a lovely 2006 movie starting Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.
It is a great way to learn more about Potter and also get some lovely views of the Lakes and understand some of the history of the area.
You can find this movie on YouTube in three parts that run consecutively. The quality is surprisingly excellent.
Composer Sir Arthur Somervell is another Lake District personality I will be mentioning on the tour.
He was one of England’s most important song writers in the 1890-1900s.
One of his best works is an arrangement of an aria by Handel called Silent Worship. It’s a beautiful song about a garden and flowers and love.
There are a few terrific versions. It was featured in the movie Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor combining for a delightful duo. You can see it here.
But more scholarly, quality versions of Silent Worship are by Kenneth McKellar, Thomas Allen and David Hobson. You can see them all on YouTube.
Once in Wales, we will certainly be thinking about poet Dylan Thomas and his classic works Under Milk Wood and A Child’s Christmas in Wales, a beautiful insight into Welsh culture in a nostalgic look back. Denholm Elliott does a superb job in the version featured here.
Wales is famous for its castles. Edward I spent a lot of time building a ring of castles all around the coast of Wales for fear of a Spanish or French invasion.
I thought my group would enjoy learning about this fascinating history by watching Dan Jones’s Secrets of Great British Castles series of documentaries, especially the one talking about Carnarvon Castle, which we will be visiting. This documentary is on Netflix.
I also want to tell my fellow travellers the Legend of Gelert when we visit the quaint village of Beddgelert.
I went to Beddgelert as a child and remember walking along the river bank to the grave of Gelert, the heroic dog in the story. It is a wonderful tale of loyalty and sacrifice that has stuck in my imagination ever since.
I will also want to mention the music of various Welsh artists, especially Sir Karl Jenkins.
He is now 72 and was once a rock and jazz musician but is now most famous as a classical music composer with many fine works such as The Armed Man.
The Japanese regard his beautiful music as “healing sounds”. The words in some pieces are just made up to sound like a language.
Once in Ireland, there’s certainly no shortage of music and literature to talk about, but I will be playing some Van Morrison, The Cranberries and U2.
But I have to say I keep returning to Glen Hansard and friends and their version of The Auld Triangle at the Royal Albert Hall.
This is a song from Brendon Behan’s play The Quare Fellow (1954). Think you’ll notice Elvis Costello in the group.
It’s a moving song that captures not only the suffering of the prisoners in Dublin jail but also the spirit of the Irish romantic heart. A song about a man missing his girl.
Of course, we will be visiting many beautiful gardens. Many of them have been featured in Jane Power’s marvellous book, The Irish Garden, a wonderful source for background on many of the gardens we will be visiting.
In Dublin, we will be doing a literary pub tour, so we will certainly get to grips with the likes of Yeats and Joyce and others, but I suspect there will be more enthusiasm for the local pub scene and music and dance plus a visit to the famous Guinness factory.
Please come and look what we are up to here every few days as I will try to post photos and video and little updates as we travel.
