Let Me Take You to Magical Secret Gardens in London
Five unique and glorious gardens and their gifts to us
The British are known for their passion for gardening. I’ve seen many fantastic gardens in this country, large and small, and met excellent professional and amateur gardeners.
I could write many stories about gardens, but the theme of this article is ‘secret gardens’ because I visited some of London’s hidden gardens and was fascinated by them.
First, we will discuss the novel The Secret Garden, written in 1911. Then, we’ll take a look at five Secret Gardens today. Please compare them and consider the following three things:
How has British society changed in 110 years?
What magic do gardens continue to cast over us?
Do you like any of the gardens included in this article?
Now, let’s grab a bunch of keys to explore the secret gardens.
The Secret Garden is a novel featuring a young girl who grew up in India
Many people should be familiar with The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924). I remember reading the digest version in Japanese as a child, but I was shocked when I recently read the original.
What? It’s so racist!
The Secret Garden is the story of Mary, a girl born in India to an English couple. At the age of 10, she loses her parents to cholera and is taken in by a wealthy uncle in Yorkshire, England. She learns that the uncle’s late wife left a ‘secret garden’.
The whole story is dotted with racist and derogatory descriptions of Indian people — it was published in 1911, so this would have been acceptable 110 years ago. When read today, it is truly appalling, so a ‘racism-free’ version is available.