A GARDEN of MARBLE and CORK

We went back to Estremoz!

Every day we had something to do around the garden! Each time we come back, one of the first things we do is see how the plants are doing and which weeds have grown in the meantime.

Truth be told, as we have only been coming once a month, we have spent more time pulling up weeds and tidying the garden than actually planting new things. But it immediately looks different, and it is a joy to see that just by clearing and pruning, the plants spring up with fresh energy.

This time we turned our attention to a spot in front of my grandfather's office, which we had worked on in April but which had been forgotten since. We pulled up weeds and more weeds, roots, pruned the rose that climbs all over the place, picked rosemary, and created a new space with the inspiration of the moment, which we called "The Garden of Marble and Cork".

Estremoz being the land of marble that it is, this stone is not hard to find. Even on my grandfather's own plot there were loads of stones we had never paid any attention to, but looking closely they were pieces of marble. Where they came from, not even he knows any more… "someone who came here to unload something…" – he says.

Well, we took these stones and made a border for our new garden. Inside it we placed a piece of cork, in tribute to my grandfather's life working with cork and to the old factory where this garden sits, a wooden ladder, a water barrel and a trough, things that were used in this space back then, and…. the imagination and the art are left open for our next visit to Estremoz!