In wonderland

Two sisters, one reading and the other looking into the middle distance. What has caught her eye?

A rabbit about to evade capture down its hole.

And thus the opening scene of the classic "Alice in Wonderland" is set.

This is the work of Edwin Russell, but is not the only nod to the work of Lewis Carroll. Hidden away in the castle grounds and backing onto a private house called the "Chestnuts" we have this by Jeanne Argent. "Alice through the looking glass". It has a rather more sombre feel to it, but a beautiful ethereal quality.

I had no idea that Guildford had any connection to Lewis Carroll or the Rev Charles Dodgson to give him his true name. Neither did my friend Ice Badger who was at uni in the town and couldn't quite work out how she had walked past them many times and never noticed them [bit like me and the city walls of Winchester which I managed to completely miss in my student days there!]. Dodgson never lived here, but his sisters lived in "Chestnuts" and he came down to stay with them. He preached from time to time in the nearby St Mary's church and actually died here. He's buried in The Mount cemetery. There's the Mad March Hare pub and the Mad Hatter milliner's nearby just for good measure.

Arilx