The Good Life

Saltaire Festival 2016 - The tiny backyard featured here was advertised with the strapline 'The Good Life in miniature'. The Good Life was a TV sit-com in the late 1970s that revolved around the antics of a couple trying to become totally self-sufficient in their suburban garden. This Saltaire yard was packed full of edible plants: herbs, fruits and vegetables. I noticed tomatoes of different varieties, including some luscious-looking deep purple ones, yellow courgettes (zucchini), beans, potatoes, salad leaves and even sweetcorn growing in pots (almost as high as an elephant's eye!) The edible plants were interspersed with splashes of colour from pretty flowers, including cyclamens in many shades, but many of the vegetables were attractive and colourful in their own right.

There were also some small sculptures exhibited: 'Guardians of Time' by the Austrian sculptor, Manfred Kielnhofer. These were miniature versions of the hooded, monk-like figures that he suggests are watching over mankind.