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Old 23-12-2003, 02:03 PM
Simon Avery
 
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Default NT Open day at Greenway, Devon

Sacha wrote:

Hello Sacha

S His widow has just told us that the National Trust is
S holding an Open Day on 20 February at Greenway, in memory of
S Frank Lavin, long-time gardener to Agatha Christie. Frank
S died this autumn.

Sorry to hear that. I didn't know him, but I worked there for several
years on and off clearing up the devastation caused by the 88
hurricane. Greenaway lost a huge amount of trees, many of them
incredibly rare.

The gardens are great though, long paths down to stunning views across
the Dart estuary. Lots of follies and odd Victoriana dotted about,
like a battlement near to the boathouse complete with cannon, and
little pools and waterfalls tucked away. I suspect it's been cleared
out a lot more since the NT have had it, but when I was there we were
the first people to see some of this stuff for years. Agatha's son-in-
law knew where everything was, but he couldn't get around to check it
so good.

My boss was working there during the storm itself. He had enough and
wanted to go home, so started back along the road. Had to stop to
clear a tree blocking the road, and while he was clearing that, more
were falling behind and ahead of him. I can imagine it was a bit of a
horrible thing...

Anyway - great place to visit, especially if you can get to walk
around the gardens. They weren't publically accessible back then, but
maybe they've been opened up now?

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK Ý http://www.digdilem.org/