Diary of Covid-19 confinement, day forty-seven and World Naked Gardening Day 2020

World Naked Gardening Day 2020 #WNGD

Day forty-seven, 2^nd May 2020

World Naked Gardening day

Welcome to the first Saturday in May, and the 16^th annual World Naked Gardening Day #WNGD, when gardeners are encouraged to step outside a little more naturally than they normally would. There are a number of reasons behind this, that this year seem more important than ever to highlight and share.

World Naked Gardening Day 2020 #WNGD

1 Body Image

We all need to be kinder to ourselves (and each other) and accept who we are and what we look like. Once our clothes are removed, no matter if we are a size 10 or a size 20, we all have scars, saggy bits, lumps, bumps and wrinkles and this is normal. We need to stop obsessing about having a perfect body shape and love the skin we are in.

World Naked Gardening Day 2020 #WNGD

2 Our relationship with the natural environment

As well as being kinder to ourselves, we need to be kinder to our planet and the natural environment. We don’t need weed-free lawns, straight carrots or perfectly round tomatoes and look at how much healthier our air has become with less traffic and aeroplanes in just a few months of lockdown. When the world begins to move once more, it must be at healthier pace than it was before all this began.

World Naked Gardening Day 2020 #WNGD

3 Fun

I hope you can also see the fun to be had in sneaking outside, avoiding the neighbours, throwing off your clothes in wild abandon and hugging a tree or smelling a rain soaked rose? In these difficult times we all need to smile more and do the silly things that keep our spirits high, so if I’ve raised just one smile from one of you today, I will have achieved my goal.

Even if it’s only a barefoot stroll on the grass, or a bare-armed hug of a tree, enjoying a few minutes of quiet time in nature is good for the soul and helps to balance the mind and the body.

Meyrueis, Cevennes 

May holiday memory

We began our morning of 2^nd May 2012 on the circular, scenic drive from Meyrueis towards Mount Aigoul (1567m) home to a weather station, a ski station and not a lot else except a great view, although this early in the season it was a little bleak with nothing but short stocky pine trees growing. The Tarn Gorges were our next destination, and coming in from the high plains of the Causse Mejean meant we had the most spectacular view of the meandering river which we followed until we turned off for the Causse Sauveterre, where we found our own little wildflower meadow, perfect for a picnic lunch.

 

From the Causse Mejean

Onwards towards the Lot Valley where the local stone houses have a pink tinge to them, and the countryside had become lush and green once more.  The roofs here tend to be heavily pitched with dorma windows inset, tiled with rounded slates and the odd turreted tower, that made me think of the village of Hogwarts from the Harry Potter books. The village of Estaing with the chateau towering above it was a good place to stop for the cherry clafoutis that the lady in the boulangerie in Meyrueis had carefully boxed for us that morning. A daily patisserie has always been a must for us on holiday in France.