The Fairways

 

I decided I would draw my alternative Master Plan for the development of the golf course. I based my drawing on the idea of using the existing trees as a starting point for the layout. Seemed as good a starting point as any other. This drawing was also influenced by the houses at Dungeness whose gardens radiated around the property a full 360 degrees. These ideas seemed enough for me to start drawing. Then when I’d drawn a few houses…. other issues start coming in!…!

School, yeh that’s a good idea going to need one, probably a primary then, as there is a massive secondary only a quarter of a mile away.

Shops, yeh going to need those.

There is a lot of old people now as parents are having less children and having them later, generally speaking and Herne Bay where I live has a very high concentration of older people. So I’ll put a health centre and yeh ..I’ll put some gardens in there as well, like the French have medical gardens Herne Bay can have the first medical gardens in the region.

I put this ‘Exchange and Re-Cycling Centre’ in, sounds good, I’m not quite sure how that works if I’m honest. But I thought a place where you dont use money you exchanged things on a points system or made agreements on values!!

Flooding….big issue at the moment and this area did have a history of flooding way back, so a few water features I hope will absorb the Brook of Plenty when if swells.

Sports pitches and a public park, yeh all essential going in, as well as an arts and heritage centre. Perimeter cycle path…..nice look at the highland cattle grazing outside the school. I remember working in an unusual school in Hythe which had live stock which was amazing. And so it goes on a little bit of this…… and I remember that was good, bit of that…. its like being God really!

 

Then I remember vaguely something about how houses should be orientated towards north by the sun (not magnetic north) this was an efficient ecological requirement and I thought my own garden was often in shade. And I had just housed 100’s of people by saying that’s a nice composition on the paper, with the rhythm of those houses and trees..!

What!…. people have to live there, and your just making a nice drawing!

I also realised I was drawing this plan North at the top in the traditional way, had I decided to draw it south up things would have been very different, because this in relation to that type reasons, put that there and this here and as those trees have to be there, this looks good here. Very subjective, unecological and arbitrary really. Had I done the drawing the other way up it would have come out very differently.

I have seen many early maps, the Gough Map for example where the UK is lying on its side. Very disorientating.

Its all an illusion, what is right and what is wrong? Who can tell? I remember the iconic photo of the earth from the appollo moon mission in the 70’s and subsiquently reading that it was actually taken with the south pole at the top. But the coastline of Africa and the Middle East are visable through the clouds and it was pubished the other way up so we could recognise land masses in a North Up orientation.

 

 

I started reading a chapter in my new book by the Rev. Peter Owen Jones who described the way the houses were laid on the shingle peninsular at Dungeness as ‘Organic’ and without structure. He was struck by how obvious it was that any formal planning scheme of any kind was clearly not considered . These dwellings had cropped up seemingly at random, the connecting track meandered on its own course without bearing relation to the position of the houses either.

I have been to this community at Dungeness and now he mentions it the approach was a little random. He also points out that the gardens have no boundaries and radiate around each property. That was one of the most striking memories of the place for me as well.

So why am telling you this?

In my mind I have a half remembered a conversation either on the golf course here with a passerby, or a passerby in a dream about the housing development on this site. We parted company agreeing that what the planners should do was to design the houses around the layout of the existing trees…….how good is that!….eh.. eh!

So I set a short agenda for my walk over the golf course this morning;

1. have a look at the former club house from the road.
2. scope how difficult it might be to plot the position of all the trees (for random house planning locations)
3. check out to see if any new graffiti
4. see if the horse has a shelter

Before I even got to the entrance of the former club house I was reminded of another half remembered conversation about the shrines that pop up at road sides marking the tragic deaths of those taken before their time. They had a name (can’t remember) catholic, southern european influences can’t remember much about the context either though they did explained to me. But I do remember thinking it was true there are a lot of them now!

This one I was walking past now is probably the most elaborate one I have ever seen. It was practically a gateway feature into this new residential development. Again another half remembered conversation with a  local I knew this was a memorial to Adrian Stroud (who I never knew).

Gravel landscaping on a geomembrane

solar powered ground lighting on a considerable scale for these type of installations.

Paper lanterns hanging in the surrounding trees

which had wind chimes, laminated poems, a key ring in the form of a car number plate saying Adrian and other sympathetic plaques hanging from branches.

Large scale planting in car tyres and dozens of bouquet flower tributes.

metal lanterns with tea lights or candles in

Large painted lettering

Framed photograph

plastic windmills rotating in the wind

a small canvas seat/fishing stool

and my favourite tribute was the set of lawn darts.

Quite impressive.

The entrace has a large sign now with flags and a picture of whats to come.

I always look at the graffiti which is really the gateway feature to the site if you enter it from the opposite side and pass under the main road. The graffiti has changed alot different people are doing this now and the tunnel is transformed with new work every time I go there. It is a project in of its own the changes and exchanges going on here. looks like they drink my favourite lager as well as I can see a stella can amongst the empty spray cans.

The horse is so sad, still standing where his stable used to be, without any shelter with the winter and rain approaching. I call to him but he does not respond. I walk away feeling very sad and melancoly wishing I was in my car already and almost home.

As for the plotting of tree locations its a massive task and I’m in no mood for it thinking google from the air will save me an awful lot of work. So  a plan of the tree layout is my next task.