School of Life, Philosophers and Gardens.

A gave me a ticket to a school of life talk on Philosophy in the Garden for my Birthday, quite fascinating if a little scary. I know almost nothing about philosophy of any sort, and the interactive part worried me that I'd flounder. It wasn't too serious ant Damon Young was enthusiastic and charming. He set us problems like defining a "garden", basically a human-modified enclosed space from a sacred grove up to formal acres, with Japanese stone gardens as an offshoot. he talked about how Jane Austen's writing was only successful when she had access to one, her decade living in Bath was unproductive. The first part was in Fenton House garden, the second in the giant pergola on Hampstead Heath, where we considered poetry and were asked to compose a haiku to send in. Both these places are well worth a visit.