the garden

It is only at the end of last year I have finally made it to the Prospect Cottage. The pilgrimage took place on a day when it was pleasantly sunny and surprisingly still.

Derek Jarman moved to his final home in Dungeness in 1986. On the 1st of January 1989, he started his observational diary, which in 1991 was published as a book called Modern Nature. The book is an incredible insight into artist's musings on creativity, life interweaved with the descripitons of the practice of gardening. It is an incredible source of inspiration and it is the first book I started reading this year.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/353964/modern-nature-by-derek-jarman/9781784873875

For my little pilgrimage to Dungeness, I have booked a tour of Prospect Cottage, which ended up being a unique and intimate way to learn about the spaces inside the house and outside in the garden which were, of course, used by Jarman himself, but also later by his companion Keith Collins, who looked after the cottage following Derek's passing.

What caught my attention was that all the objects inside the house hinted at Derek's presence as if he had been there only five minutes ago. He only placed those props from his film sets on the table a moment back. The room where he kept his paints and canvases had a tin with brushes resting on the side of the working counter as if he was to come back to paint at any second. Though the paint on the brushes had dried long ago, still, his presence was strong and timeless.

After the tour of the cottage, I and other visitors stepped out into the garden, which is also a sculpture garden (Derek made various sculptural arrangements using found objects collected in the area). Immediately the garden had a different feel to it. It felt slightly wild and untamed. I suppose it is the nature of all things living and organic. It does not matter how much we try and tame them, they keep returning and leaving their mark. Particularly plants, anyone who has done some basic gardening, would know that most plants are out of control. I have a feeling though, Jarman wouldn't have minded that.

In his book, Jarman writes in utmost detail his observations of flora and fauna, and ways of planting and growing things on this tricky, overtaken-by shingle, coastal patch of land. He writes about some plants he has successfully grown: curry plant, santolina, and lavender to name a few. And I cannot stop but think about his own description of the garden as "a therapy and a pharmacopoeia". These plants are there not only to aesthetically please but they heal and soothe. There is a scent in the air.

Jarman passionately writes about planting roses. He also describes their history, be it Rosa Foetida bicolor, grown in the Middle East since the twelfth century or Rosa mundi, the rose of the world, the rose of Provins, also known as a sport of the Apothecary Rose. I wonder how many of these roses survived. 'My rose outside the kitchen window is flowering for the first time, I wonder if it will see the nuclear power station out'. (Jarman, D. and Laing, O. (2018). Modern nature : the journals of Derek Jarman, 1989-1990. London: Vintage Classics.)

It is hard to talk about the garden at Prospect Cottage without mentioning the Dungeness nuclear plant. Both nuclear plant stations, Dungeness A and B are now non-operational. But they were during the time, when Derek lived there. There is a clear view of one of the stations from the kitchen window and in the winter sun in December 2023 it still feels as if it 'radiates energy and shimmering light' that Jarman decribes throughout his journal.

It is astonishing to think that only a few years ago, Prospect Cottage has been at risk of being sold privately. Perhaps in light the gloom that prevails in the world at the moment. I find refuge in the story of Prospect Cottage and people who felt so passionate about maintaining it the way Derek Jarman intented it to be.

the garden

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