As a child, I lived for eight months a year at Kent Academy (K.A.), the boarding school in Nigeria for missionary kids (MKs). Every afternoon after school, one hundred kids spread across the playground getting exercise, goofing around, and having fun. But most often, I felt overwhelmed by the noise and activity. The tropical sun beat down, warming my body and causing sweat to trickle from various places. I often sought a quiet, cool, corner in which to rest.

Along the outside wall of the girls’ dorm was a strip of dirt, encompassed by a low, cement ridge. In this little border garden, clumps of marigolds, African violets, and fuzzy little sour-tasting plants grew. The perfect place in which to play make-believe with another shy friend.

Our favorite spot was where the wall turned a corner and jutted out toward the apartment of the Dorm Parents. Here the garden strip was wider and included several large bushes behind which we could easily conceal ourselves. In the cool shade of the foliage and an overhanging tin roof, the din of the noisy, crazy world dimmed.

Occasionally, an errant playground ball burst into our dream world, and the surprised retriever usually paused to say, “Why are you hiding? You’re supposed to be playing in the sun so you don’t get rickets. You’d better come out now.”

Shaking our heads, we always replied, “No. We don’t like getting pushed around.” I could have spent all day, every day in that peaceful paradise. Sometimes we brought dolls or books. Other days we simply played with flowers and twigs, imagining they were fairies and elves.

But alas! When the five-o’clock siren rang, it was time to traipse up to the laundry building behind the classrooms, collect our flat, wooden boxes of clean clothes, and put them in our rooms. Then we headed for dinner.

However, the next afternoon’s 4:05 bell held the promise of another hour of blissful fantasy in our Secret Garden.

A Modern Secret Garden

Every March, my husband and I try to come back to Scotland, to celebrate his birthday in the land of his birth. In order to break up the long trip from California and keep me healthy, we stay for a few days at the Hanbury Manor, a large hotel north of London. On my first visit there, I stopped at Reception and inquired whether there was a walking path around their golf course or elsewhere on their expansive grounds.

The clerk flashed a twinkling smile and said, “You’ll want to explore our Secret Garden.”

This is the third time I’ve been privileged to stay at the Hanbury Manor with Chris. Our last visit two years ago was cut short as Covid restrictions began. This year, the main entrance to the Secret Garden was blocked with orange cones and debris. But I found the back path to the magical place.

Fallen branches crunched under my feet as I approached the ivy-covered stone archway. Winding around and down to the right, I followed the path to the center pond and fountain. My heart skipped a beat. For a long moment, I stood still, breathing in then exhaling slowly, as the serenity of the garden swept over me.

Across the pond, a wooden bench inside a rock cave beckoned me to sit with my thoughts or take a flight of fancy with a book. The path circled the wrought-iron fence by the pond, taking me past the stone carving of a long-haired Grecian goddess in a sea of ivy. Maybe another shy friend.

In the summer, this garden would be filled with colorful blossoms and camera-toting tourists. But for me, the quiet winter secrecy was far more beautiful.

Always when I’m in the Secret Garden at the Hanbury Manor, my mind takes me back in time to the corner Secret Garden of my childhood at K.A.

Ahhh! Another Happy Place in a faraway land.

Link it to Your Life

What was your favorite hang-out as a child? Where is the nearest garden in which you enjoy working or playing now? What images come to mind when you think of a secret place? In all the craziness of the pandemic and the post-pandemic world, where have you found your happy place?

Father God, thank you for creating the first garden as a home for mankind. Help me to trust in your loving heart even when the world seems to have gone quite mad. Please bring your Kingdom to earth soon, and in the meantime, flood my soul with your supernatural peace. Amen