The ghost of Christmas past...

Well it was Christmas. This is a bit of a catch-up.

Actually Christmas was rather nice. I felt a distinct lack of urgency and I actually had a few days off.
This was probably a mistake as the pace of live s-l-o--w---e----d down so much that it took me rather too long to speed up a bit.

We needed to work on the dreaded M word.
MASTERPLANNING

Calverley Grounds at a scale of 1-500. A Masterplan, two pages of Sections, one page of Sequential Sketches and one nice manageable page of Precedent Images. I have given all these an initial capital letter because they seem to be Important.

Rustling up a masterplan was a bit like rummaging through bargains at a jumble sale. There were fewer elbows but I found it quite difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff and to recognise what was worth a closer look and what should go straight into the bin. It was all a bit random and I didn't really feel very well equipped to design a park. So I parked the design over Christmas and then started somewhere near the beginning.

My park will be designed around three paths. I have chosen the REFLECTIVE word. Why? Ummm ... because it seemed to have more scope and seemed more representative of what I was feeling at the time. I decided that people need space and time in order to reflect what is important to them - so this will be a park for the soul. Nourish the soul.

The three paths represent strands of human nature - namely Joyful; Soulful and Practical. But practical seems a silly name for a path so perhaps something like Down-to-Earth. But people are not just one of these things - they are a combination, which makes them stronger as a whole. The paths need to be woven together. Like a plait.

So Park Plait it is then.

We made a group model before we broke up for Christmas. It helped get my head around the levels.

I asked the Christmas tree angel to wave her magic wand and make a design happen for me. She winked I think. Or perhaps the spruce needle poked her in the eye.

We'll see if it works.