Heroes Not Zombies

I’ve been retired for over seven years now. This photo shows my last place of work. Just beyond the clematis and jasmine you can see a window…the window of my office/consulting room. Although I wasn’t a gardener at the time (I was living in a top floor apartment) the hospital where I worked had been designed and built around a garden.

There are many scientific studies demonstrating the health benefits of spending time in forests, parks and gardens. There are many which demonstrate the health benefits of gardening as an activity. And there are many which show the impact made on healing times by buildings which enable patients to see green life through their ward windows.

But I didn’t need any of those studies to appreciate and enjoy the physical environment of my workplace. It was great to see the cycles of the seasons through my office window, and to be able to slide back the big glass door and step out into the garden.

When I retired I moved to South West rural France, first to a house on the edge of a village, surrounded by vineyards. Stepping out into a garden every morning, listening to the birds and looking to see which flowers, butterflies and birds I could spot has put me more in touch with Nature than ever before.

Now I’ve moved house and am in a small hamlet in a traditional old house with a big pretty wild garden to explore. It feels home here. The garden is full of birdsong, and has an area of trees making a little forest…..forest bathing on my doorstep!