Hever Gardens

Another day in beautiful Kent, or Kentland/Kentshire as I prefer to call it. This time it was to Hever Castle I travelled, somewhere on my list of places to see for several decades. I arrived some time before the opening of the house but was free to roam the grounds and gardens. I have been around a great many stately gardens, but Hever’s must surely receive first prize. Spring arrives sooner to our southern coast than our northern hills, and April offered no barrier to those plants’ colours, buds and blooms. Several pairs of golden gates were found about the site, and these, inevitably, reminded me of heaven. I daydreamed a scene at a larger set of golden gates in which I am being welcomed by an angel with a clipboard, my final breath having been taken...

“Yes, hello Mr Marsden: welcome. It is good to finally meet you, we have been getting your rooms ready for some time now. Your place here has been reserved since the foundation of the world and I note that you sent your RSVP back in earth year 1987AD. Yes, yes, everything seems to be in order; you are saved by grace, which is why you are here at all, though your reward is not so great, I’m afraid. Yes, yes, although I see you have done some things for your King, many were done publicly, for which you received your reward in full. I also see that you were a paid pastor in your later years, while many others served the Kingdom in their spare time, unpaid and unrecognised. But not to worry! It’s always better to be here than in the other place! And the least here is still greater than the greatest on earth, which is a good job, because ‘least’ is what my file is showing. The role we have for you up here is not so very elevated I am afraid. You are designated Fourth Assistant Deputy Gardener in Sector 19-G; the gardens there are not huge and they are not often visited, but they should be enough to keep you occupied...Oh, come, come, Mr Marsden, don’t look so sad! Say, do you remember that daytrip you made to Hever in Kent just a few months back? Do you recall how impressed and moved you were? Well 19-G’s gardens are at least as good! You’re going to be just fine!”

From what I saw yesterday, the angel’s news would be welcomed indeed; I should be just fine.

“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”. Matthew 11:11, NKJV

A. D