Lime Avenue in The Scent of Water

Trees of Protection and Delight

165 year old Lime Avenue at Clumber Park, UK. Photo by Brian on Flickr

“Fine trees,” said her father to this boy, whose piercing blackbird whistling and been momentarily wished by the grandeur of the trees. “What are they?”

”Limes,” said the boy. “Ain’t another lime avenue like this in all the country.”

And then his whistling broke out again as the trees drew back. Mary heard them moving and felt their mysterious hold releasing her. To her left now were cherry trees at the edge of a wood. Within the wood were bluebells and she heard a cuckoo calling.

🌿The Scent of Water, Elizabeth Goudge

What is a Lime Avenue?

The lime avenue in The Scent of Water which little Mary remembers is the gateway to this magical village of Appleshaw, and Goudge would likely have encountered a similar allee when she lived in the Chilterns. It is hard to say now where it may have been located for sure, but her biographer Christine Rawlins makes a few guesses in Beyond the Snow. Could it have been the lime avenue she mentions that is 30 miles north in the Chilterns? Or I wonder if it could have been at Highclere Castle, which is 30 miles southwest of Goudge’s Rose Cottage in Peppard Common?

Lime avenue at Highclere Castle

Wherever it was, Goudge wanted us to picture a narrow road with old, large-leaved trees which cast their shade over the passersby coming into Appleshaw. Later in the novel, we will find out just how significant these trees are to the peace and refuge of Mary, Jean and the others. Like the old twisted oaks at Damerosehay and Knightwood in the Eliots, the lime avenue forms a protective presence around the inhabitants of this small country village in the Chilterns.

Today, take a virtual drive through the longest Lime avenue in Europe, and learn a bit more about these amazing, fragrant trees and their place in garden history…