Thursday 29 April 2010

Marrakech

Marrakech, the place where my extended Moroccan stay began, offered white Atlas mountains and palm trees -- having done snow on the equator with Kilimanjaro I am in danger of getting blase about these climatic contrasts, but it was rather impressive nonetheless.


We stayed in a traditional ryad -- all arches, courtyards and cool cloisters.


It was made of mud brick, the most ancient of all man-made building materials, which I was surprised to see was still in widespread use.


I worried a bit about what would happen if it rained, but luckily it didn't. Judging from the inside I think it was fairly waterproof.  

The chap we rented it from claimed it was a  "ryad ecologique" although I wasn't really sure what that signified. I guess the traditional build goes a long way towards it -- but perhaps not the swimming pools and large flat screen TVs.



It provided a good base for our labours at the Menara Gardens where I helped-out with the REEP garden as part of the children's festival at Jardin'Art. We worked under garden designer maestro, Christopher Jordan. 
    

And built, Chelsea style, a show garden in 48 hours, ready for the onslaught of visitors...





I enjoyed running workshops for the kids. There seemed to be a pent-up demand for drawing, so with hundreds of coloured pencils and reams of paper we got them creating...

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