Videos In Production

The following texts have now been completed, audio clips recorded and visuals prepared. They will be in production once editors are appointed.

 

13. Greening The City

A. Origins of the City

The city originated in the early Neolithic period and the agrarian revolution when it was possible not to have to be hunter gatherers and travel across the land seasonally for survival. It meant living in one place for safety and more efficient survival. Thereafter  convenience and exchange started to live in tribal and family groups which in time became the first cities . There was also safety from danger. Over time came  specialism,  increased production, innovation and then long distance trade.

 

B. Growth

Cities grew their own identity, became centres of production, innovation, trade and became rich and powerful. They became ideal for work and for getting on. But as the expanded they also absorbed all the little villages and towns around them and these lost their character. The city today has become an urban jungle with little character as you travel across it except where there is obvious historical building style or lay out.

 

C.  The City Today

Today cities are vast and even metropoli. Towns, villages, farmland has been absorbed. They have became, crowded, frenetic, noisy, constantly expanding outward in an urban sprawl consuming agricultural land.

 

Once the town and small city burst beyond its defensive walls it became increasingly unmanageable, chaotic, inefficient.

The city was not planned. It happened anarchically. Vast problens and dangers have thus resulted

 

D. Lost Chances

The 1960s saw the concept of planning satellite towns and villages ringing the cities so that they didn't just sprawl but were planned with green belt buffers in between. Community identities maintained.

 

This seems to have been completely lost.

Earlier still there was the idea of the city garden philanthropist manufacturers creating semi-urban rural areas of ideal living with lots of green spaces.

And the late 19th and early 20th century saw an explosion of city parks, and vegetable allotment often the only place  city people could get close to nature.

 

GIven population explosion all this is not feasible: the itself must become a garden

 

E. Change

A transformation is drastically needed. The city cannot go on as it is or it will swallow everything we hold dear. If the city is to survive it must undergo a radical transformation - as radical as when humans first started living in enclosed areas and compounds in the early Neolithic period. The city must go upwards and stop expanding outwards.

• 1. Car Park Solar Canopies

Cities have vast reservoir of endless electricity waiting to be unleashed: they are called car parks. All such open spaces should have canopies and solar panels. In winter it will protect the shoppers from rain and storm and in summer keep cars cool and animals safe. And if private cars are excluded from city centres then there would be satellite park and ride car parks in a ring around the city centre for ease of access & connection.

 

●2. Roof Gardens

The vast majority of buildings in cities have flat roofs. These represent a huge greening resource: every flat roof (not being urgently used for solar panels) will become roof gardens. And some could be mini woodlands, others for vegetables and fruit.

 

These will provide both relaxation and well-being for humans and bring a vast array of wildlife to the city.

 

●3 Water

It is a fact that flowing water produces negatively charged ions and these have a beneficial health effect on human mentality by helping to release serotonin. This is why we always feel good whilst sitting beside flowing rivers and streams and especially at the seaside.

 

With the changes to the city I have proposed it would be possible to create a range of networks of flowing water: streams, canals, fountains, and waterfalls. Some of these could be used for entertainment and transport. And somd couod connect tw rivers and canals neyond the city.

 

The new city waterways would be a health resource, recreational facility, and a rich new haven for wildlife.

 

●4. Submerged Transport

Future cities would have transport systems largely submerged but coming  to the surface for termini, stations, and connections to  alternative transport. The space saved would be quite phenomenal and turned into allotments, woodlands, parks, sports areas, relaxation areas, small nature reserves.

 

The complete rebuilding of Warsaw after the war is an example of an aspect of this where dual carriageways were submerged in order to save important buildings and in other places create public open spaces.

 

• 5. No Cars

Individual car transport will be unnecessary. Replaced by driverless public pod transport run by AI algorithms: time and placed requested by passenger.

 

Additionally, tiny car-pods will be hired at random like electric scooters are today.

 

Sky hoppers will aid transport variety, flexibility and efficiency.

 

Public trams will glide shoppers to out of town termini.

 

There would be a very low flat fee for any transport one ticket lasting all day or all week or all life.

 

(With artificial intelligence and computerisation it will be possible to have fleets of mini buses able to respond from passengers calling to be picked up wherever they are, the most advantageous route devised by onoard computer driver. )

 

●6 Green buildings

City buildings will become vertical forests, green towers vibrant with wildlife, colour and air enrichment. Not only future buildings but extant ones can have walls of vegetation, and protruding large balconies where inhabitants and office workers can have  gardens. These would be spiralled to maximise light

 

And it could be possible for each city area to become a zonal garden (such as mediterranean, nordic, tropical, temperate etc whatever). People could live in districts designated by a botanic category or theme, providing an additional sense of identity and village atmosphere and community.

 

●7.  Bus Stop Roofs

The flat roofs of bus stops and other spaces in cities are another area just waiting to be greened.

 

In the Netherlands there has been a trend towards planting up the roofs of bus stops and this has increased the population of bees and butterflies quite considerably.

 

And there are lots of small wasted ground spaces suitable for extensive planting.

 

●8. City Farms

The city must also become a place where food is produced for its inhabitants. Whilst this may never reach a 100% , a considerable amount can still be produced.

 

Considering the space which can be saved for growing because of: roof gardens,  sky platforms/green boulevards, large balcony gardens for all residents, green spaces created from submerged transport and so on it is clear that a great deal of food can be grown.

 

Additional to this there will be vast subterranean food production areas for such things as mushrooms and artificially grown protein.

 

● 9. Sky Green Boulevards

With the city growing upwards rather than outwards there is then the opportunity for large connecting corridors and public spaces between taller buildings.

 

These wouldn't necessarilly create shade at ground since they would not be a total canopy across the city but simply crisscross from the tallest buildings. Green havens in the sky

 

• 10. House Roofs

Pitched roofs of houses and all buildings in the city can become a source of health, vitality, wildlife.

 

Where they are not used for solar panels they can planted up to bring more wildlife into the city and provide habitat for bees and butterflies. And it would provide enjoyment and interest for humans- additional to better building insulation.

 

There are many suitable shallow rooted plants including campanula, armeria, sedums, phlox, primulas, ajuga, stonecrops, yarrow, rockfoils, dianthus, thyme, houseleeks, sempervivums.

 

11. Greening The Streets

In the past rom  city streets were forms of transport, communication or  trading. There were some tendencies towards human gathering and celebration but this was limited. (Small towns were somewhat different inasmuch that there was still the tradition for human gatherings in small piazas and squares.)

 

This will change in the future city with upward rather than outward growth, abolition of private transport, and the submergence of transport arteries below ground, streets will become places of human interaction, and celebration, and of wildlife.

 

To aid planetary resuscitation all city streets must be greened: trees and shrubs, small parks, allotments, fountains, waterfalls, seating, raised flower beds, and extensive wildlife.

©Stephen Ben Cox 2024

 

12. Paradise Lost

Across several centuries artworks have been created portraying bucolic landscapes in which humans are engaged in harmonious activities with the land, or peacefully and reflectively enjoying the view (or situation?).

 

Such scenes suggest a yearning of something which has been lost. A looking back to some Golden Age referred to by the ancient Greeks? Or to the loss inflicted on us supposedly by the expulsion from the Garden of Eden?

 

Or a vague recall of pre-diluvial existence such as Arcadia, Atlantis, Hy-Brasil, Lyonesse, or the flooded North Sea Plains and so on.

 

More recently the breaking of our connection with the land following the Industrial Revolution perhaps compounded the concept of loss?

 

In England, the 18th century Romantic Movement rebelling against formal symmetrical landscape gardening may echo this. The work of designers like Lancelot 'Capability' Brown created landscapes as if completely natural as if man had no part in it. Islamic gardens refer to creating an impression of paradise and Taoist gardens of harmony with nature.

 

The Industrial Revolution and the land enclosures saw an exodus of population from the land to the cities, and a dramatic change of living conditions. The separation from land, rural living and tradition may have been traumatic, a kind of exile. (not that peasant life was perfect).

 

And cities are still growing and sometimes comprise the larger part of a nation's population. Cities have everything to hand- all the technology, conveniences & entertainment facilities of modern life. And many city dwellers would feel bored and deprived in a rural existence. But today we seem to have a sense of city dissatisfaction.

 

We may not be pondering those delightful landscape paintings, but we are certainly escaping physically to the countryside more it seems. Camping, glamping, hiking, trekking, adventure trails, going for holidays to the countryside, or buying a weekend cottage or a caravan in a delightful landscape or uprooting ourselves entirely, moving to the countryside to commute to work in the city, or retiring to a rural idyll.

 

So, why are we escaping from our cities and our towns to seek the paradise beyond the 'concrete jungle’? Have we grown tired of our creation of the city?

 

The city emerged at the dawn of effective civilisation after the agricultural revolution in the (early) Neolithic period and completely transformed humanity and what it was capable of and brought us to where we are today.

 

This new form of human agregation provided security, stability, greater variety of goods, more work, more opportunities. And an explosion of specialist skills and innovation, centralism of production, and more distant trade resulted.

 

The same of course is still true today of our cities. Yet they seem to be now noisier than ever, frenetic, rushed, pressurised and seem to be full of crime . And it is not just the fact of the city itself which seems to exacerbate this desire for the remote, the rural, the bucolic. The very nature of technology seems to insulate and anesthetize us from nature and the rhythms of the land and cycle of the seasons. It is as if our sprawling cities, urban jungles, technology and materialism has become a landscape of its own as if we were living in 'The Matrix'

 

For most of the population the city replaced the fresh air, relative peace, and slow pace of agricultural life with the noise, freneticism and overcrowding and disease and filth of city slum life. Perhaps this was an additional spur in the collective mind of the ideal of the rural existence or the arcadian perfection. The rich of course had their fashionable 'town house' in London and their idyllic country estate.

 

Overall, the result is that our time is almost stolen by pressures of commitments, technology, fashion, noise, advertising, consumerism, commuting and so on. Have we through our own progress driven ourselves away from our roots, our real hopes, and our real selves and from each other as well as from Mother Nature? Have we become ghosts in our own machine and no longer know what it is we are doing here?

 

The latter 19th century saw the  creation of municipal parks for public edification and relaxation.  For many it became the major source of  relaxation and of connection to nature. And in towns across many countries people increasingly find pleasure in growing vegetables or flowers  in their small gardens. Traditional allotments too have seen a revival.

 

With the advent of television gardening programmes have become a regular feature of the week for many millions.

Two things are certainly clear. One is the dramatic growth of gardening and land-based activities which has become an increasingly important part of the GDP of several countries- and television is now full of programmmes on gardening, garden design, garden history, great houses and gardeners, or those exploring moving.

 

The other is the growing awareness of the perilous state of the planet and the dangers it faces through human carelessness, greed and exploitation which perhaps has brought into sharper focus the concept of Earth as Eden, of Middle Earth, of Paradise Lost. The chaotic  explosion of the city suggests humanity as a kind of vermin or blight on the fecundity of the planet and the diversity of life. City urban sprawl is like a plague consuming villages, nature, and wildlife.

 

Humans have created the conditions  producing the early stages of the Sixth Great Mass Extinction Event.

 

It is time to take stock of our evolution and the impact on our own well-being and that of our only home on which our existence depends. We must transform the city, recycling, and population growth. It would be no bad thing if we stopped to look at and take in some of those bucolic idyllic and almost arcadian landscape paintings of the last three centuries and perhaps reconnect to the Earth and the landscape which gave us birth.

©Stephen Ben Cox 2024

 

11. Et in Arcadia Ego

The ancient Greek word Arcadia intimates a scene of harmony and peace. For them it was a landscape of pastoralism and harmony wherein the residents lived as if in the Golden Age and not corrupted by modern tendencies.

This concept of decline and fall is seen throughout human history and art from the image of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and all the way through to modern wars and the destruction of  landscapes, art works, architecture and entire cities. 

 

We seem to be constantly in the midst of a sense of loss and also of transience. Civilisations rise and fall, potential never fully realised. We defeat ourselves by our ignored shortcomings and hubris

 
The work of the French artist Nicolas Poussin (June 1594 – 19 November 1665) spans religion, mythology, and landscape and it is said that in his work there is a consonance of both the pagan and the Christian. Certainly his paintings have a clarity, a harmony and  balance as well as acute storytelling. 

 

In his painting 'Et in Arcadia Ego' (1637-1638) the concept of the transient and the ancient and the arcadian or bucolic possibly come together. The group of people depicted have supposedly discovered an ancient monument or tomb, even though they themselves appear to be residents of an ancient landscape. Their stance suggests they are looking at an inscription apparently saying " I too am in Arcadia". The implication being that death also is in Arcadia, or Arcadia is part of life and death. And that life is transient so if we are to embrace Arcadia then we need to make full use of life not waste it and not damage the beauty that is around us…. for Arcadia perhaps is also our own Eden.

The shepherds are almost like actors snapped in time and the Latin inscription stands carved in rock like a cryptic clue to some deep mystery, a key in a lock we can't quite seem to turn to get that revealing flash of insight to reveal the meaning and gain the power of deep timeless wisdom. There is another essential lesson to be learnt from this almost stage-set of humans considering an inscription of the past.

 

And that is the way in which our own anthropocentrism has blinded us to our own transience and vulnerability and shortcomings. We see ourselves as the summation of the entirety of progress and evolution and fail to realize that countless generations of humans just like us have preceded us along with civilizations. One day we too will have the inscriptions of our lives and our age cursorily looked at just like these shepherds look at the inscription on the stone.

We humans still make the mistake- often without realising it- of trying to understand the world and ourselves in black and white/yes or no as if comprehension were a light switch. But we were given a brain to think, analyse, solve problems not to confirm our prejudices and blot out explorative wide-angle potentiality with the insufficiency of a superficial comfort zone.

[the myth of a memento mori is rooted in a passage from Virgil’s Eclogues, which was itself indebted to the third-century bc bucolic poet Theocritus.]


This theme of harnessing the potential of life's journey and understanding it's transience so as we can make our mark on life or at least leave this world in a better state than when we found it has even greater urgency today. We are in the midst of climate change and possibly the Sixth Great Mass Extinction. Never was there a time more urgent than now when we needed all our energies, skills, technology and ingenuity to bring us to enable a new harmonisation and revitalisation of our existence in balance with Nature.

So we can see these somewhat idyllic Arcadian paintings not just as some dreamlike fantasy or daydream of something that may never be, but rather as an intimation or even a warning that if we are not careful all that is of value will disappear and we would have been the authors of our own destruction.

It brings me to part of the reasoning for having created my registered charity for the advancement of education in horticulture and conservation. I created a garden from a small field. I was not aware at the time of the desire to create something along the lines of an arcadian vision or philosophy but that is what has happened.

If like me, you are at all touched by the vision of humanity in harmony with the landscape and wildlife and of the potential for healing the planet and for enriching the lives of all of us to fulfil our life journey then I would ask you to consider looking at and becoming involved in the programmes of education which the Trust offers. As I say
"to Delight the eye, enrich the mind, gladden the heart and up lift the soul"

Perhaps it is not too late for the vision of Arcadia to be born in our time for the sake not only of our own survival but of this planet and all creatures thereon. Just as the painting hints at the ever present warning of life’s transience yet simultaneously nostalgia for its past and its hopes and   beauty, so too does each day of our lives bring both of joy and warning: the joy of a whole new day of life and potential and the warning of our own mortality and the urgency to make something worthwhile to hand on to the future and make this world a better place.

©Stephen Ben Cox 2024

Published Videos

The following texts (with audio clips and visuals) which I have written have now been published as videos to the Trust's YouTube Channel.

They can be viewed at:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCkYY9eJhV8SLIY8iVwnKG1Q

 

10. Extinction

Planet Earth is amid the Sixth Great Mass Extinction. Extinctions of species happen when a catastrophe, event or process takes place that so dramatically changes the environment, the eco-system and conditions for living that it prevents adaptation and thus survival.

Past extinction events have been caused by natural phenomenon (1.tectonic uplift & glacial  shifts;  2. rapid cooling; 3. Siberian volcanic activity; 4. underwater volcanic activity; 5.asteroid impact).  But the Sixth is different: it is being caused by humans. Homo sapiens has existed for approximately 200,000 years, yet its impact on the planet is so great that scientists are calling this period in Earth’s history the ‘Anthropocene‘– the age of humans. The devastation caused to the planet is perhaps the greatest in its entire existence.

• Species are becoming extinct 100 times faster than they would without human impact.
• Populations of wild animals have more than halved since 1970.
• There is ample evidence to call what is happening now the ‘sixth mass extinction’. And reason to describe this loss of biodiversity as ‘biological annihilation’.

Mass Extinction Criteria and Humans

Of course species do come and go over the course of time. For example, 98% of every organism ever existing is now extinct. But when a species goes extinct in a normal situation over the course of time another creature emerges/evolves to fill the gap. (e.g. mammals after the dinosaurs). However, there is a sustainable condition to this natural change.  But, when it is abnormal life cannot be replenished.

Earth's normal extinction rate is calculated at 0.1 and 1 species per 10,000 species per 100 years. This is known as the background rate of extinction. A mass extinction event is when species vanish far faster than they are replaced by natural evolution and ecological balancing. This has been defined as about 75% of the world's species being lost in a "short" amount of geological time: less than 2.8million years.

Even a conservative analysis of the rate of extinction of mammals and invertebrates as well as flora and fauna in only the last 100 years (i.e. since the advent of industrialisation, consumer society, exploitation of resources, fossil fuels,  dramatic expansion of the human population etc) indicates that Earth is the midst of a Mass Extinction Event- perhaps greater and more dangerous than any which has gone before since it is driven by human changes to the planet and not natural events.

 So: How Are We Causing It?

Climate breakdown and habitat destruction caused by human activity are killing off animal and plant populations across the world, the changes, and destruction we have caused are so great and so fast that Nature is unable to adapt and survive. Effectively it means that we humans are guilty of wildlife and flora and fauna genocide.

We humans (that is YOU, me, your family, friends, work colleagues) and the choices we make and who we vote for are directly responsible for the drivers and triggers causing extinction. A few of the example of problems we have cause are::

• Pollution of air,land,water, food, +noise, light)
• Habitat destruction.
• Exploitation.    
•  Climate Change.
• Industrial farming. •Poaching.
• Drought, and erosion •Wildlife trade.
• Disturbance to the ecological balance. 
•  Fossil fuels.
• Throw-away society/consumerism.
• Over consumption.
• Pesticides. •Overpopulation & urbanisation.

The evidence of our profligacy, criminal carelessness, ignorance, short-sightedness, greed, and selfishness abounds. Even the things you choose to buy and how you organise your home and your lifestyle help drive Climate Change and Mass Extinction. It is not someone else’s fault, it not a problem somewhere else far away: it is here and now, it is you and me and the choices we make.

The future of life on Earth (and of our own survival) is at stake.

Time is running out: will you be supporting survival or extinction?

©Stephen Ben Cox 2024

9. Mars Repurposed

The gardens of Stephen Cox Garden Trust (a charity advancing education in horticulture and conservation) comprises rooms of different plant collections and also life size statues of Graeco-Roman deities: Hebe, Orion, Artemis, Athene Eros & Psyche, and…. Mars: supposedly only the god of war.

But much understanding of Mars has been lost, for he was also  

1. Guardian of agriculture, God of Spring, fertility, virility as a life force, and of physical and mental strength. 
2. Animals sacred to him included the woodpecker, the wolf, and the bear:  creatures inhabiting the wildlands and woodlands.  
3. There is a link between Mars and female nurture: in Ovid’s version of his birth, he was conceived by Juno without the intervention of any man or god. 
4. The Romans regarded him as the father of Romulus and Remus.  While Venus and Mars were the parents of both Cupid (god of love) and Concordia (goddess of stable harmonious and peaceful society).  
5. A woodpecker species, Picus Martius, was named after him. 
6. In the early Roman calendar March is the first month so he gives birth to the new year. 
7. The Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino notes that "only Venus dominates Mars, and he never dominates her".
8. His connection with the wilderness suggests an association with natural phenomena: some rituals described by early Roman writers, indicate his job was to also to prevent the ruination of crops by the wild forces of Nature. 
9. In his book on farming, the ancient Roman writer Cato invokes Mars Silvanus a ritual to be carried out in wooded uncultivated places.
10. In the cult Mars Quirinus, he was protector of civilians and guarantor of treaties, 

We can see in these qualities aspects of the Hungarian ethnographer and archaeologist Maria Gimbutas' assessment of pre-Bronze Age Europe as being somewhat less military and more matriarchal.

‘Venus and Mars’ was a subject by several painters. In the painting (1485), by the Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli, Mars is beyond the caricature of the militarist deity. In a bucolic scene Venus sits fully clothed, composed, relaxed and self-possessed, whilst Mars lies languid and asleep and naked. In fact, he is so deep in sleep that satyrs are playing with his armour and weapons, and one is blowing and conch shell into his ear - but still he does not awake. This is Mars the lover, Mars in the fertile landscape not an ice-cold turbulent war god but a sensuous deity happily under the spell of his lover. 

Mars is no longer a symbol of war, destruction, hubris, dominance authoritarianism. He has been repurposed, fitted out for a new higher role whilst retaining his energy, dynamism, steadfastness, loyalty, and strength. His job originally was to control military power to ensure peace.

For our age does need these qualities: to overcome climate change, refurnish and heal the planet, restore habitat, reverse the ravages of materialism, and the sixth great mass extinction. And we need them to explore the universe, engage in research, progress, invention and find better ways of doing things. And of course, to overcome ourselves for higher purpose and living.  The militaristic age of Mars may now be thankfully waning so we must understand and place into context all aspects of our history and development, for those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I see Mars as possibly a symbol of the new dynamism which can lead us to powerful solutions of interdependence, synergy, and exchange. This is Mars even more powerful, beauteous, and dynamic. 

In our gardens the statue of Mars interrelates with the other statues. And like those he helps lead the eye from one part of the garden to the other enabling visitors and students to experience the varied vistas and compositions. He also invites us to journey through the various rooms of the garden and its collections of plants and perhaps discover the possibilities the Trust and its gardens can offer for ourselves and others for self-renewal.

©Stephen Ben Cox 2024

8. A Journey of Statues

From a field an exciting and unusual garden has been created by the Stephen Cox Garden Trust in England. This fascinating and unique landscape is designed as a suite of 'rooms': Fishpond; Waterfall; Wetland;  Beach; Fruit garden; Vegetable garden; Urns patio; Buddha courtyard; Herbarium; Woodland; Cottage garden; Tropical garden; and various collections (Grasses, Conifers, Exotics, Dianthus, Heathers, Fuchsias, Roses, Phormiums, Clematis, Begonias, Acers, Coastal) all separated by lawns, hedges, low walls of brick and Cotswold stone, large wooden archways, pergolas, arbours, and paths. There are over 23 separate seating areas, 7 patio areas, and 15 free-standing fountains. 

Another feature are the life size statues of ancient Greek deities and mythological creatures. But why are there statues in the garden and what is the purpose?  

Throughout history every civilization has created statues. These  had varying purposes: 

(i) Venerating heroes, founders, creators, healers, inventors for people to consider and live up to. 

(ii) To mark catastrophe, or war so we do not forget 

(iii) Providing a subject to think on and help enhance a more mindful community. 

(iv) Discovering the past to shape a better future.

In this garden the statues serve some of these purposes but also have three very specific practical uses:
(1) Acting as markers to improve the overall perception of the garden and its rooms & plant collections.
(2) To punctuate the landscape leading the eye through a series of variable visual compositions.
(3) Inviting the visitor to journey through the garden to discover its unique qualities and embrace all that it offers.

The collection includes life size stone statues of Graeco-Roman deities (such as Mars, Minerva, Orion, Diana, Eros & Psyche, Hebe); and mythological creatures (sphinx, griffin, dwarves), legendary & literary animals (such as Puss in Boots, Peter Rabbit, Mr.& Mrs Tiddywinkle);  as well as cats, hares, rabbits,  lions and puma.

The statues, arbours, arches, benches  and patios create the perfect trigger for visitors and students to relax, observe, study, and reflect. Overall, the garden is a creation of unity in diversity and a balance of the formal and informal. At its heart is an interpretation “Arcadia”: a vision of man in balance with nature and the landscape and the statues encourage a reflection upon this.

The garden as a conservation charity is not open to the public. But occasionally pre-booked groups are accepted for visits- which includes tea, and a lecture and guided tour by the founder. To learn more about the Trust and its charitable work for public welfare, and its educational projects for horticulture and conservation and how you can help support it, please go to our website.

©Stephen Ben Cox 2023

7. Arcadia

Arcadia is my vision to create a context and initiative (via my garden and education charity) in which can be explored and understood the practical philosophy of humanity in harmony with wildlife and the environment.

 

Arcadia was an ancient Greek province. It's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists caused it to intimate an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness with bountiful natural splendour and harmony. The inhabitants were often regarded as having continued to live after the manner of the Golden Age, without the pride and avarice of later corruption.

 

Across time painters such as Friedrich August von Kaulbach, Thomas Eakins, Thomas Coles, Jan van Huysum, Joshua Cristall, Markó Károly, George Lambert, Nicolas Didier Bouget, John Consable, Jan Willem Pieneman, Daniel Dupre, Claude Lorrain and others dealt with Arcadian-like subjects and painted scenes intimating visions of such harmony and peace.

 

That aspirational vision has been largely lost in our drive for progress, materialism, control, dominance, and of exploitation of the planet. We have become cut off from our own planetary home and our fellow creatures. And they, like us, have suffered as a result. Middle-Earth, our very own Eden, has become lost to us.

 

This spirit of balance, harmony, creativity, respect, interdependence pervades all aspects of how my garden was designed and built and how it is now managed and made available in its many projects for public welfare as a registered charity for the advancement of education in horticulture and conservation.

 

Its unique garden offers insights of the balance of opposites:

•Hard & soft landscaping.

•Man made & natural materials.

•Formal & informal design.

•Contrasting zonal rooms.

•Inner and outer life.

•Flowing & still water.

•Rugged and soft planting.

•Places for wildlife and for humans.

•Modern and traditional.

•Cultivated & wild.

•Reflection & stimulus.

•Loss and replacement.

•Structured and unstructured.

It is a place of wildlife, peaceful repose, and harmony. Here I try to delight the eye, enrich the mind, gladden the heart, and uplift the soul. By creating a garden of opposites combining oneness it offers an image and focus of the potential for revitalising the individual and society/the inner and the outer/the micro and the macro environment in a flowing symbiosis. A much-needed vision and teaching resource in today's world as we strive to solve the problems that beset us.

I have been interested in this interplay since my teens. Over the years it emerged in my writings and my art works. The garden and the charity is the clearest & most practical expression of it. It's various workshops, courses, programmes, videos, and books include this principle in its teaching.

Arcadia then betokens the option of our restoring our partnership with Earth and rediscovering the essence of ethical and harmonious living. To enhance our lives and society, fulfil the potential of our life journey, and heal the planet perhaps we need to practically embrace the tantalising prospect and vision of Arcadia.

©Stephen Ben Cox 2023

6. Neighbourhood Plans

What is a neighbourhood plan and how can it improve your local area and help in the urgent problems of conservation?

The UK government's localism act of 2011 requires every district to organise a Neighbourhood Plan for public consultation and referendum which then becomes local law. It includes community choices on: Education, Housing, Transport, Shopping, Well-being and the Environment. Each plan is renewed every 10 years.
Once approved all development has to abide by the Plan's conservation and environmental requirements.

So how could it improve your local community and also help in the fight back against climate change, species decline, and support conservation? Here  are some policies by the Stephen Cox Garden Trust in England.


GREENING
1. Greening car-parks.
2. Tree planting & screening of commercial estates
3. Plant more hedgerows.
4. Community Forest
5. Extending woodlands
6. Improved greening of existing housing estates.
7. Wildflower & meadow areas to be created. Existing ones to be protected and enhanced. Road verges.
8. Car parks/supermarket have solar panel canopies for increased renewable energy.

9.Bus stop gardens.

10. Roadside wildflower meadows.


NEW BUILD
1. Clear buffers between it and any cherished landscape, feature, ancient woodland.
2. New estates have a minimum new tree planting, animal habitats, public open space.
3. Variety of frontage styles.
4. Materials & design to be in keeping with local heritage.
5. New sites mitigated by provision hedgerow, green barrier and trees.
6. Country lanes must not be urbanised: no pavements, street lighting, or hedgerow removal.
7. All development to make provision for wildlife: trees, bird & bat boxes on houses; link up with wildlife corridors, wetland.
8. All new developments to have wildlife corridors & linked up public footpaths.
9. Country lanes should not be widened in the interest of housing or commerce.

10  Sunken lanes, high banks and hedgerows must be protected.
11. Water courses must not be culverted/straightened/covered over. Permanent and seasonal standing water areas encouraged.
12. Wildlife reports should be obtained from local people to form part of any planning application.

LANDSCAPE
1. Views of to and from ancient villages not to be obstructed.
2. Establish nature reserves.
3. New development to have green buffers so landscape views are not affected
4. Protective status for the landscape views as being necessary for (a) for health & well being; (b) species diversity/habit protection; (c) public heritage and entitlement.
5. To conserve and improve the landscape and views such as village settings, country lanes, diversity of field types and patterns, wooded areas, public open space.
6. Protect night sky: new housing with low level lighting for enhanced human wellbeing and help night flying creatures.
7. All new housing should harmonise with the local vernacular so as not to damage and disrupt the visual tradition of the environment.

Get involved in your Neighbourhood Plan when it next comes around. Join the fight back to enhance your local environment for the well-being of you and you neighbours, the survival of other species, reversing climate change and making a greener and better future. The power is in your hands!

©Stephen Ben Cox 2022

 

5. Water in the Trust Gardens

We live on a water planet. Water drives and enables all that is.  One of the major elements in the unusual gardens of the Stephen Cox Garden Trust is the wide range of water features. These bring peace and calm for the visitor, enhance wildlife and enrich the design and landscaping.

But why have water in a garden? Water is the quintessential element of all life on Earth. It covers 71% of the planet’s surface and has been used in landscape since 4000bce.  Water in a garden focusses how we connect to the “bigger picture” and to self-fulfilment.   And just as nature and wildlife is under threat so too is human mental, spiritual and physical well-being.  So doesn't it follow that water would be a natural part of our gardens?

Recall the excitement of luxuriating in the water at the coast or lake: the sense of freshness, freedom and renewal. It is a fact that flowing water has physical and mental health benefits.

Water is an important in the Trust gardens in three ways: (i) design and landscaping, (ii) themes and content (iii) philosophy. It is the essence of my Arcadia vision: humanity in harmony with nature and the landscape.

The gardens are designed as a series of rooms, each having a different theme, plant collection and design. There is a balance of formal and informal.

3 ranges of features lead the visitor around the garden and through its themes and rooms:

(i) hard landscaping (walls, paths, patios, pergolas, arches, arbours)

(ii) Life size statues: Graeco-Roman deities, griffins, sphinx, dwarves, cats, rabbits.

(iii) Many water features attract the visitor with sound and address the eye.

There are 7 types of water feature.

1. Formal traditional tiered free-standing fountains 2metres high. There are 5 of these.
2. Fountains of white marble. One within the large collection of herbs. The other in the Putti alcove rest area.
3. Large pond, with bridge, plants, over 70 fish of several species, and three fountains (i) statue Koi Fish (ii) statue of a cherub (these 2 water jets arch up and across the pond) (iii) a simple fountain spraying a water circle on the surface.
4. A shallow water Wetland with a stone walkway. In it live a wide range of water insects as well newts and frogs (and where frog spawn is laid).
5. A 2-metre-high stone wall cascade with a series of waterfalls via descending pools finally tumbling into the pond. The largest pool is several metres long with 2 bubbling fountains. The 4 waterfalls remind one of water cascading musically over rocky landscapes such as Dartmoor.
6. There are three other fountains in the conifer beds, triple steel tubes fountain in the dianthus area, a small fountain in the exotics garden and one along the hedge beds.
7. Finally there are several water feeders/bird baths. Most are on pedestals but some are hanging from trees and laid in the ground.

Water brings harmony and wildlife to a garden, facilitates relaxation and calm and socialising, aids species survival and delivers visual and audio interest. In this garden water aids its very essence of offering hope and renewal, and conservation education. In short: to delight the eye, enrich the mind, gladden the heart and uplift the soul.

I hope you have enjoyed  water gardening in this representation of my Arcadia. To learn more about the work the Trust do visit our website.  Thank you.

©Stephen Ben Cox 2022

 

4. Embracing Eden

We have a solemn duty to cherish, protect and enhance Wildlife, the Environment and Planet. We can all do something support it. And it is a desperately urgent task: in the last 50 years wildlife has dramatically and dangerously diminished.

Yet Nature enriches our lives, offers so much for our well-being and to delight our senses.

The philosophy of the Stephen Cox Garden Trust (a registered charity in England for the advancement of education in horticulture and conservation) aids this in 3 ways:

Planting:
Is undertaken for wildlife with nectar rich plants all year round to aid recovery of bees, butterflies and other creatures. Wild areas, wetland, pond, wild flowers, animal homes all aid nature. U.K. domestic gardens account for more habitat than all the National Parks. If we took more care then an immense network of wildlife corridors would be created- also bringing enrichment to us all

Conservation

The Trust, its Garden and all its projects, placements and teaching are run according to my conservation philosophy: a complete approach to living in harmony with Nature.

This includes: ● its gardens being organic and sustainable;

• that mammals, birds, fish, amphibians etc enjoy rights as non-human persons; ●reducing the carbon footprint and recycling as much as possible.
  
  Conservation Philosophy Principles

If undertaken offer an enhanced path forward for humanity and repair of the planet.

 

1. Nature and Humans must co-exist in a beneficial manner enhancing their mutual condition and potential.
2. 
   All existence on Earth is interdependent and part of a wondrous indivisible whole. Humans must harmoniously fit into that fabric.
3. 
   Caring for Nature and other creatures improvese the human condition- including its mental well-being, morality and potential.
4. 
   The destruction, damage and of the environment, habitats and species must be halted, repaired.
5. 
   Damage to the environment and other creatures is an assault on human integrity.
6. 
   Humanity must be understand the rights and needs of other creatures, the importance of the health and diversity of Nature and the Environment.
   
   7. All other species must be granted legal rights as non-human persons.

 

8. We should live in an ecological, bio-friendly, non-destructive, and sustainable manner.
9. 
   We have a duty to protect, cherish, and enhance the environment and other creatures.
10. 
    That all life, creatures, Nature, environment, eco-systems, habitats are sacred.

If we do not dramatically change our behaviour and reverse the impact of the “Anthropocene age” and urgently embark on such a path of self improvement and careful stewardship of Earth then we do not deserve this planet-  and indeed greatly diminish our own chances of survival.

 

Procrastination, excuses, short termism, profligacy and self entitlement are no longer valid.   The dangers are far greater than we have realised. The time to act is now. Will you gear your life to be part of this important challenge? Thank you

©Stephen Ben Cox 2022

3. Garden Wildlife Crusade

We have lost over 500,000 miles of hedgerows in the UK since 1950, and across the EU the Common Agricultural Policy has been a disaster for habitats. Wildlife is in crisis worldwide. Domestic gardens are now an essential element for the survival of many species. They provide migratory routes and havens for foraging and reproduction- despite the devastating loss of traditional front gardens to become mere parking lots.

 

Whilst we can bring pressure to bear on governments to take urgent action to reverse the catastrophic threat to species of the terrible imminence of the 6th Great Mass Extinction caused by humanity, action is needed now in our gardens.

 

The Stephen Cox Garden Trust is dedicated to the advancement of education in horticulture and conservation and to raising awareness of related issues. It also provides many opportunities of teaching and skill learning.

Its own garden, converted from a field, has with a wealth of nectar rich planting in a series of 'rooms' including:

Herbarium; Fruit & Vegetable & Cottage gardens; Pond; Wetland; specimen trees & shrubs; beach; Exotics, Conifers; Grasses/Phormiums;

It is organic, sustainable and a haven for wildlife.

 

Here are some ways you can make a valuable contribution to the crusade to protect help reverse the damage caused by humans. This will attract wildlife for you to enjoy and provide a haven to help enrich your local ecosystem.

 

• Provide some early flowering plants: climate change means creatures are emerging.
• Make your garden as diverse as possible.
• Piles of leaves left out over winter for hibernating creatures.
• Gaps in fences for hedgehogs
• BUILD: Hedgehog house
• Bug hotels
• Bat boxes
• Bird boxes
• Solo bee boxes
• Bird baths & feeders
• Nectar rich pollinating plants
• Make a small pond and/or wetland
• Create a wild & overgrown area
• Leave out dead wood for fungi & insect homes
• And some small piles of stones
• Leave fallen autumn fruits & berries for birds/insects/mammals.
• Sow a wild flower patch
• Grow a hedge
• Grow some small trees
• Grow climbers against walls & fences
• Make your own compost.
• Stop using pesticides.

 

These are just a few of the things we can do to make a positive change to the future of our planet and survival of humanity. It's also so great fun and improves your well-being.

Time is running out: what's left is in your hands. I ask you to join the crusade. Thank you.

©Stephen Ben Cox 2022

 

2. The Secret Garden

What makes this charity garden so special and how did come to be a place of wildlife, education, art, peaceful repose and harmony?

It is made as an image of 'Arcadia' a pastoral vision for humanity in harmony with Nature and the landscape. Such gardening can encourage important principles and values for living.

It offers many opportunities for public enrichment and education such as for young unemployed, those with learning difficulties, foreign students, and visiting groups.

It is a sanctuary for wildlife and has conservation projects of research, nature audits, teaching, public information, and organic gardening.

It a unique garden of rooms with many collections of plants and unusual landscaping, and balances the formal and informal.

 

It is a garden teaching the art of the potential, self-fulfilment,  and self-evolution in life.

Designing then making the garden on my own from a field was an exhausting labour of love. I also installed all the many features and rooms. Here I try to delight the eye, gladden the heart, enrich the mind and uplift the soul -not only for myself but for others.

I am sometimes asked if my garden is finished- I reply "NO!": there should always be more adventures and new challenges. To wake up each morning with excitement as to what one can achieve with a whole new day.

And whilst one's overall vision and theme of the garden may be set for a life's purpose the individual elements therein should not be carved in stone. Don't box yourself in: be prepared to experiment, to re-arrange. Give scope to your sense of curiosity.

And the future? To keep gardening, writing, teaching and creating 'til my very last hour of life. And to find sponsorship so the garden charity can have its own base to live on after me for others to enjoy and learn from.

I believe that if one is lucky enough to create, or achieve something then it is only fully realised if it also enriches others. And that no matter how great or humble our station in life we all have the capacity -and indeed the duty- of 'noblesse oblige'."

©Stephen Ben Cox 2021.