not to come with better news,’ I said, leaning over the grave to rearrange the flowers I had brought the week before and which were still holding their own in spite of the hot September days. ‘But I wanted you to hear it from me, Eloise, and I know it’s a lot to ask, but if you have any thoughts as to what I’m supposed to do now, I could really do with a sign because I have absolutely no idea at all.’
I sat back on my heels and listened to the silence in my head. My thoughts were still too clouded with grief to see the path ahead for myself. I could hear Nell starting to snuffle about, a blue tit twittering and somewhere in the distance a tractor at work, no doubt preparing the ground for next year’s crop, but that was it. There was no inspirational thunderbolt, no flash of enlightenment to reignite my creative spark.
‘Not to worry,’ I smiled, trying to sound stoic as I got ready to leave, ‘I’m sure I’ll come up with something and besides, I might be wrong. I’ll see you next week.’
It was hot back in the van so I turned over the engine, let down the windows and flicked on the radio. Nell drank her fill from the doggy water bottle I always carried with me while I tried to decide whether to head back to Broad-Meadows or make the most of my day off and explore further afield.
‘That’s not right, is it?’ I said, reaching to retune the radio which had somehow switched from BBC Suffolk to BBC Norfolk. ‘Come on, Nell. It’s time to go.’
I had hardly driven any distance at all before the radio crackled and slipped back to Norfolk news again but I couldn’t change it because the road ahead was busy.
‘The beautiful gardens here at Prosperous Place are already serving the local community, aren’t they?’
My brain tuned in at the mention of a ‘garden’ and I risked turning the volume a little higher, which resulted in missing a gap in the traffic.
‘That’s right. In the old walled garden, we have the Grow-Well, which is a community space used by the residents of Nightingale Square. We raise fruit and vegetables there and have a few hens.’
‘And I understand the Grow-Well recently won an award, didn’t it?’
‘Yes, we won the community garden award and that gave us enough funding to set up another garden and wildlife area and pond just behind the local youth centre.’
‘That’s wonderful, and what exactly is it that you’re planning to do here now?’
‘Well, the gardens around the house here at Prosperous Place are already open on certain weekends during the summer, but I’m planning to make use of them over the winter too. There aren’t all that many big green spaces within walking distance of Norwich city centre and I want to open the place up so people can come and enjoy getting outside even during the bleaker months of the year.’
‘You were diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder last year, weren’t you?’
‘Yes, yes I was, and that’s what’s prompted the idea really. It’s all too easy to stay inside on the long, dark days when the weather is cold and the skies are grey, but getting outside, even for just a few minutes, can make all the difference.’
‘So, your idea is as much about mental wellbeing as physical health.’
‘Exactly, and that’s why I’m opening the garden up today to invite people to come and take a look…’
I didn’t get to hear the rest of the interview as a car tooted impatiently behind me and I realised I had been holding up the traffic. I waved in apology, turned on to the road and then into a layby to have a bit of a think.
I didn’t need long. I had a whole day at my disposal, Norwich was less than an hour away and I was a firm believer in embracing nature and gardening for mental health, especially during the ‘long dark days’ as the person being interviewed had described them. It would be fascinating to see what this garden in the centre of the city looked like and what they had in mind to do with it.
A quick online search led me to the Grow-Well website where I discovered, along with details of the open day, that the owner was a Mr Luke Lonsdale. Before I could talk myself out of it, I keyed the postcode into Google Maps and found the