Given its freedom, the imagination will replace reality with something more intriguing. Most people wait for events to pass before reinventing them, but not Susan and Rick. Before beginning the arduous task of creating a new home and gardens for themselves, the couple conceived a backstory for their property; a faux history that they’ve gleefully nurtured for two decades. 

The result of that inventive approach to “place” was on display recently at a Digging Deeper event put on by The Garden Conservancy and hosted by the Richters. I was invited to join them in talking to the assembled guests about the built landscape. We led the group through the lush gardens, pausing to tell stories and answer questions. Any puzzlement on the faces of the visitors was completely understandable. Half of what we described was fiction; a historical ruse amplified by the very real existence of the dry stone curiosities I constructed there.

Over the fourteen year period that the house and grounds of Woodland Farms materialized, a parallel universe sprang up. The remnants of a Celtic hill fort appeared, along with a late-medieval Anglo-Norman manor house. From the gardens grew a tapestry of living color and texture. As the couple settled into their new home, the oak timbers mellowed and the mythic vision sharped. Wandering the paths, today, you could believe that the dwelling and environs have been occupied for eons, but what you’re actually experiencing is Susan and Rick's  imaginations, hard at work.