The Quiet Garden it is a garden about an acre in size and is behind the Quaker Meeting house, situated at the end of Thorpe road by the bridge over the railway - just down River Lane. It has wheel Chair access.
It is a place where all are welcome to simply come and spend quiet time with God. There are no gates to the garden and people are free to come and go as they please.
Some of us are fortunate to be able to go to retreat houses, but others of us need something a bit more local as well where we can simply "drop in" when we need "space" to think and pray.
Although we can all spend time in our own gardens, there is something different about deliberately coming to a Quiet Garden with the sole intention of spending time with God.
This is why the "Quiet Garden Movement" was set up about 20 years ago by a group of Christians, and it is now become a worldwide movement with many gardens such as ours set aside for quiet prayer and reflection.
It has been another busy year and we are still in the midst of redesigning the garden, which is based around the Quaker testimonies (Truth, Simplicity, Community, Equality, Peace and the Environment).
A booklet has been put together to explain the thinking behind the different areas of planting in the garden. It has been an exciting year with new trees and shrubs being planted and lots more perennials. We have the task of planting 1,000 English bluebells ahead of us in the next few weeks which we hope will create a wonderful display in the Spring when we shall invite you all to come and see the garden in Spring time.
As for events based around the Quiet Garden - we have held some peaceful "Quiet Mornings" on occasional Friday mornings throughout the year, meditating on Scripture and other writings based around thoughts that have arisen whilst I have been working in the garden.
Linda Elliott (Revd)
