The twins and the rockery

 A recent trip to Brighton took me to a part of the city which is quite a way out of the centre and I have only ever passed through in the car or on the bus. However, thanks to Ellie Seymour's 'Secret Brighton' book that I borrowed from the library a while ago, I had more than one reason to stop and tarry a while.

Preston Park has long been known for its 'Preston Twins' which up until 2018 were a pair of 400 year old elm trees which has somehow miraculously escaped the ravages of Dutch Elm disease in the 1970s. Sadly though, for one, its luck ran out and it finally succumbed and the decision was taken to cut it down to prevent the spread of the elm beetle. Such timber needs to have all its bark stripped away after it's felled and that maybe might have been where its story ended. Thankfully the artist Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva had the vision to reimagine it and now it's returned to its home as the 'gilded elm' . It's been left open on one side so that you can see the burrowings of the beetle within the interior which caused its eventual demise. It's rather impressive and heartwarming to see it back standing side by side with its twin once again.

Its surviving twin is now part of the Queen's Green Canopy which is a network of seventy ancient treees chosen to celebrate the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Whilst there we crossed the road to seek out the Preston Park rockery which is a bit of a hidden gem really. It was designed and landscaped by Captain B Maclaren in 1935 and is based upon the Chinese Willow Pattern. Its claim to fame is that it's the largest municipal rockery in the country. We were there a few weeks ago when there were more autumn leaves still hanging on, but it's worth an explore if you're passing.

More about our time here in a separate post.

Arilx