After walking past the Museum on our group lead walk last Sabbath Roy and I were curious to go back and spend more time in this town of steep cobbled streets.
With a busker behind this 11- foot sculpture the cobbled High street steeply rises behind. The Surrey Scholar in bronze balances on one toe on a sloping pavement, he clutches a arm full of books and joyfully raises his mortarboard hat up high! It celebrates Guildford as a hub of culture and scholarship, marking the university’s 35th anniversary and the Golden Jubilee.
Then Quarry street was soon found where in the Guildford Museum a pair of gardening boots in a glass cabinet draw our attention.
‘ They say a horse does not like new shoes, I certainly don’t like new boots.’ This was said by Getrude Jekyll. The person who shaped modern garden design through her deep love and connection to the Surrey landscape.
How did she cultivate this connection? Through drawing, photographing, making tiles, designing her own and others gardens.
Drawings are in a scrap book dated 1866 – 1911. This is in a glass case displaying one, I would have loved to have seen more.
Here is one photograph from many in an album dated 1885 -1886. Tree studies are a particular focus.
She designed in such a way as to paint.
Then there is this tyle.
