Feeling exhilerated, exhausted, exfoliated by Poetry in the Garden, my poetry residency at Rainham Hall (part of Remixed Borders, thanks to Jesse the magical community gardener and all the great NT staff and voluteers at Rainham,  the Poetry School  and Open Garden Squares Weekend).

​I can't quite believe it's over - though I have promised to go back to the garden later this summer, to sit under a tree again and see if any more poems might arrive in my notebook. Or if not, to check how the insects are getting on in the Insect Mansion!

The weekend started slowly but really got going on the Sunday. I'd offered to write insta-poems for those who completed the Poetry Voyage (a quiz trail with poems planted on canes around the garden), so spent much time scratching my head and asking anyone nearby for a rhyme for lily, or compost, or herbaceous.

The poems on postcards were a sell-out success (an idea I picked up from fellow poets-in-residence in other gardens).  

​In the end the readings were impromptu, whenever there were enough people around who'd said they'd like to hear some poems. Amazingly, quite a few did! And several people brought their own poems along to show me, too.

I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity. I've learned about the hidden treasure of the garden at Rainham Hall, about how to organise a residency, how to write for a specific audience without forgetting to write for my own development too...and about 17th Century gardens 'in the Dutch style'. Amongst other things. 

​Now for a quick snooze. Just for a few moments...

Open gardens weekend starts tomorrow. The garden looks amazing. The kettle's boiling. 29 poem saplings are ready to plant out in the morning. I'll be reading new poems at 12.30 both days. Happy to be there. Sad that the residency's about to come to an end.

Bravissimi, to all involved!  @jessemuddyboots  @RainhamHallNT ! and  @poetryschool #remixedborders @opensquares #OGSW16 

Remixed Borders is heading into the last week before the Open Gardens Weekend, 18/19 June.
Looking forward to it but there's still so much to do!
Still working hard to get everything ready for the open day at Rainham Hall. 
Yesterday I spent time talking to some of the garden volunteers, and was once again impressed by the warm community that's been gathered there to restore the old house and garden and most importantly, to involve local people in this next chapter in its history. 

'There's no point in just doing what I want to do with the garden. It's what they want that's important', says Jesse, the community gardener.

I met Norman who constantly weeds the stone paths and Linda the Community Ambassador,  who keeps a beautiful garden diary. You can see the moments of slog and triumph as the restoration of the garden continues.

Best story this time... the arrival of the new green-painted metal garden shed. Lifted over the high garden wall by crane!  'It was just a shed, but  oh, that was such a wonderful day!'

I looked inside the Garden Memories box, and found a pile of postcards where volunteers, staff and visitors have written about gardens. Now the hard work part - to incorporate them into my 'crowd-sourced poem.'

Spent a wonderful afternoon at Rainham Hall, getting ideas for more poems and planning for the open garden weekend with Jesse (@jessemuddyboots), the community gardener, who was leading a brilliantly mucky Muck-In Day with local children. Painting the insect mansion, rolling down the grassy hill (specially mowed  to entice running and rolling!)

It's fascinating, gradually piecing together the history of the hall and people's memories of it through the centuries since it was built in 1729. Today I raided the friendly local library and found records of 'up river smugglers' sailing their illicit goods up the brackish waters of Rainham Creek. Also a transcript of an advertisement written by the sea captain who bult the house, full of words and phrases to delight a poet's heart. Some will find their way into the poems I'm writing for Remixed Borders.

Then I walked back to the Hall, so excited I fell into a  forget-me-not bed!