JASON'S (POPE) GARDEN, TEIGNMOUTH.(2)

The parents of Jason Pope kidnapped in Angola over nine years ago, decided to build this garden in his memory. Jason a Geologist was kidnapped by Unita rebels from the Yetwene Diamond mine in Northern Angola in 1998. His parents Alan, Nev and other son Damian along with help from their daughter Vashita and her husband Patrick have toiled for over five years on this garden.No word of the whereabouts of Jason has ever reached the family, although mother Nev has still not completely given up hope of news. The family started by buying a long narrow strip of coastal cliff top, they then did most of the planning and all of the building work themselves. I heard today that the family have told reporters that the garden is just about finished. We visited the garden a few days ago, the views are stunning and the gardens so peacefull. Various charities will benefit from the families long hard work, so please if in the area do visit and see for yourselves.
When the garden is fully operational I will post more pictures.
Above,This is the view from the coast path at the East end of Teignmouth, from here the road climbs gently until you reach the garden.

Above, The view looking toward Dawlish, taken from the highest part of the garden this shows how close these gardens are to the cliff edge.
Above, This view (taken into the sun) was taken from the entrance to the garden and shows a good part of Teignmouth beach and "grand Pier", the rail lines are just visible at the bottom.
Above,This is the path up from the entrance to Jason's garden, the stonework was really a hard and painstaking job, stone, bricks, wood and all the steel work was carried up a little at a time in the pickup/trailer.
Above, These steel sea birds were made locally and are made from scrap metal pieces.
Above, Taken into the sun I'm afraid but it shows the largest one of chalet type visitor centre buildings they have built here. This one will contain family history, and photo's of all the stages of build on the garden, also soft drinks and snacks are hoping to be served. The lower smaller one is a "green" toilet/washroom, up here any water used has to be rainwater collected in tanks.
Above, Another of the concrete circles this one as a seat on small pedestals, its covered in hundreds of tiny tiles, the table top is of special highly toughened glass.
Above, This is the cental path that meanders through the garden, the "grass" is actually a type of felt pegged down, this its hoped will make maintainence a lot easier. The trolley sitting in the centre of the path is made of concrete and has wheels to allow it to be easily moved and weighs 2.5 cwt, it is the base for Alan and Damians huge 12ft wide umberella which they have needed when working during the really hot ( and occasionaly wet) weather they've encountered at times.
Above, One of the three huge concrete circles that were just so difficult to get up the steep, narrow road to here.These were even more difficult to manoeuvre into place due to both the size and weight.


Above, A lovely shaded patio area, stone built with cast iron furniture and surrounded by pampass grass.
Above, Alan in front, with our friend Jamie behind and me on the right, Alan does'nt really like his picture taken and tried to keep out of range, although Sue did managed this one.

Above the only way to get their truck turned round is to put it on this homemade turntable, it just fits. The whole perimeter fence has been planted with "Roses" all fragrant and with lots of different colours. Where ever possible the planting is of evergreens and easy care plants and grasses, although these in summer should look fabulous.

BLONDE joke of the day.

Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit the family farm.
Unfortunately, after just a few years, they are in financial trouble. In
order to keep the bank from repossessing the ranch, they need to
purchase a bull so that they can breed their own stock.
Upon leaving to buy, the brunette tells her sister, 'When I get there, if I
decide to buy the bull, I'll contact you to drive out after me and haul
it home.'The brunette arrives at the man's ranch, inspects the bull, and decides she wants to buy it. The man tells her that he will sell it for £599, no less. After paying him, she drives to the nearest town to send her
sister a telegram to tell her the news. She walks into the telegraph
office, and says, 'I want to send a telegram to my sister telling her
that I've bought a bull for our farm. I need her to hitch the trailer
to our pickup truck and drive out here so we can haul it home.'
The telegraph operator explains that he'll be glad to help her, then
adds, it will cost 50p a word.' Well, after paying for the bull,
the brunette realizes that she'll only be able to send her sister one
word.After a few minutes of thinking, she nods and says, 'I want you to send her the word 'comfortable.'
The operator shakes his head. 'How is she ever going to know that you
want her to hitch the trailer to your pickup truck and drive out here to
haul that bull back to your farm if you send her just the word
'comfortable?'
The brunette explains, 'My sister's blonde. The word is big. She'll read
it very slowly.... 'com-for-da-bul.'