The Old Vicarage Gardens

At the tipping point of summer,
leaves have not yet turned
and, at the Old Vicarage Gardens,
a riot of dahlias continues to burn,
their vivid colours and spiky blooms
are not likely to fade too soon,
unlike the fading dog day heat.

Grass and bark paths yield to our feet
on a quiet walk between trees and flowers,
disturbed only by the music of a waterfall,
it’s the perfect place for pensive hours,
a place with which anyone could fall
in love. It has spaces where one can sit and think,
and a café selling delicious cake and a hot drink.

Kim M. Russell, 5th September 2023

It’s Tuesday and we’re taking a walk with Lillian for Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub.

She took a walk around the globe with many of us at OLN Live, has been some fabulous walks around the Mediterranean last month, and will shortly be taking low-tide walks in Cape Cod.  Which is why today’s prompt is all about taking the Poets Pub regulars and guests for a walk, in our neighbourhoods, through markets, gardens, places we’ve recently visited. Lillian asks us to be specific with our words and imagery, and to walk through one specific place.

40 thoughts on “The Old Vicarage Gardens”

    1. It’s a beautiful garden and the two men who own it, developed it over fifty or more years, have left it in their wills to a gardening charity. Most of the gardeners there are volunteers and are very happy in their work. It doesn’t just have plants but also woodland and statuary, as well as ponds and water features. There are even little rooms you can sit in. I want to go again.

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  2. Gorgeous gorgeous photos! The colors are incredible! The music of a waterfall….places to just sit and think and be….lovely! Thank you so much for sharing this walk!!! Now I want to go there 🙂
    PS: are you near Southampton? We will be there in 2024 before a cruise. Oh how I’d love to meet you in person!

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    1. I’m so glad you like it, Lill! Sadly we are a long way from Southampton, but my daughter lives on the south coast, not too far from Southampton. If you let me know when you’ll be there, I’ll arrange to stay with her and get the train to meet up with you.

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  3. I am literally swooning right now 😍 What a magnificent poem this is, Kim! I agree, “it’s the perfect place for pensive hours, a place with which anyone could fall
    in love.” ❤️❤️❤️

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      1. I agree with Brendan – I am at the computer today but often read the poems on my phone and I usually turn the phone sideways to make sure I am seeing the line breaks in the right place. I was thinking – some vicarage! Did the vicar spend any time on his congregation? But then you explained it…
        And a poem as lovely as the pictures!

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      2. Thank you, Andrew. I think the two guys who own it now bought it in the 1970s when it was a wreck. They made a great job of the house and gardens.

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  10. Your photos and poem work really well together. Sounds like a beautiful place to visit and walk. Isn’t it interesting how some flowers can take the summer heat and thrive and others wilt and wither in the heat!

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  13. How beautiful “at the tipping point of summer” and I just love to be “disturbed only by the music of a waterfall, it’s the perfect place for pensive hours” the easy alliteration makes me feel at ease and calm – I have fallen in love with the place in your poem 🥰 and cake yes please!

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