Tucked in at the northeast facing gable of the Old Medicine House, enclosed by the glass window of the link and the retaining brick wall in front of Toad Hall is an enclosed space: the Labyrinth. Easily missed by the casual visitor to the garden, but once found and walked, it hums in the mind: it is a journey along a blue brick path set into a square of cobbles to find wisdom. The wisdom that in folktales is found at the well.
“What can you see in the well?”
“Ferns on the wall and a dead frog in the water.”
“What else?”
The child leans over the parapet and looks into the water.
“I can see myself.”
Then the walk back along the outward ripple of the path, through the big stones of the constellation of Orion and the cobbles that echo the sun’s shadow at the equinox.
The Labyrinth shows a different face every time you are there. A special and a private place.
I love a labyrinth. I never pass one without tracing it. I draw them on the beach. I walked this one on my visit the other day. Before I did I looked at the laminated notice. I was amazed that I was staring at the day's date. The shadow of the corner post fell along the entrance path on 22nd September. How uncanny that it was that very day. Shame that the sun didn't show itself all day. Still... And I seemed to be the only one who went near it at that time.
ReplyDelete