翻译《我们建了一座花园》Margery Fish

图片来源：英国《卫报》

那座房子是用Somerset蜜蜡色石头建造的，长而且矮，是一个L字型的。曾几何时它盖着茅草屋顶，然后很久以前，被换成了旧的红瓦片。

房子座落在Somerset一个小村子正中心，就在一条连接主道的小路口拐角处。它的前后花园都很小，但我们把后园外面的一个果园和附带的房子也买了下来，总共有了大约两英亩。一面挺高的石墙遮挡住小村街道，墙外是另外一间村舍和一个果园。

打造一座花园可不能着急，尤其是一座旧房子的花园。房子和它的花园要和谐，它们应该看起来是一起建起来的。因而唯有住进这个房子，对它有了感觉，才会逐渐对花园的设计有想法。

我们搬进去住将近一年之后，当我们对房子和花园都有了归属感，知道我们想要的是什么，才开始打理花园。（待续）

1 The House

The house was long and low, in the shape of an L, built of honey-coloured Somerset stone. At one time it must have been thatched but, unfortunately, that had been discarded long ago and old red tiles used instead.

It stood right in the middle of a little Somerset village, and made the corner where a very minor road turned off from the main street. There was only a narrow strip of garden in front, and not very much behind, but we bought an orchard and outbuildings beyond so that we had about two acres in all. A high stone wall screened us from the village street, and there was a cottage and another orchard on the other side. 

You can’t make a garden in a hurry, particularly one belonging to an old house. House and garden must look as if they had grown up together and the only way to do this is to live in the house, get the feel of it, and then by degrees the idea of the garden will grow. 

We didn’t start work outside for nearly a year, and by that time we felt we belonged to the place and it belonged to us and we had some ideas of what we wanted to do with it.

书中所写的“那座房子”图片来源：英国皇家园艺学院

We Made a Garden, by Margery Fish, Publisher: Batsford (19 Dec 2011)