Two of my favourite books are 2 nature diaries written in 1905 and 1906 by Edith Holden which were published in facsimile format following their re-discovery in the 1970's.
And this is a superb biography on Edith
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of artist and amateur naturalist Edith Holden and today several events are being held in Olton, where she lived for a while, to commemorate her.
Daffodils in the car park.
The first event at 11.30 on the Warwick Road was the opening of a micro garden with Victorian style public benches restored by Olton Residents Association. The Association together with a Solihull Neighbourhood co-ordinator have reclaimed a patch of overgrown land, tended it and created a small garden.
The second event at 11.45 was held at St Margaret's Church, Olton. It was the unveiling of a stone birdbath by the Lord Mayor and the Vicar of the Church. The birdbath commemorates Edith and has been located in a small and peaceful garden. The stone bath has been at several locations in the past (I am sure it was once at Baddesley Clinton) before being put in storage at Packwood House.
The full inscription reads along the lines of (sorry didn't get the exact order of the words! " To celebrate the life and times of Edith B Holden illustrator, naturalist and animal lover 1871 - 1920"
Edith lived in Kineton Green Road and
the third event at 12.00 noon was the unveiling by the Lord Mayor of Solihull of an owl carved out of an old tree stump by wood carver Robot Cossey. The owl is located just a few hundred yards from Gowan Bank where she lived.
Gowan Bank
Other events today, which we did not attend included the opening of an exhibition on Edwardian life with Edith Holden memorabilia at Olton Library; the annoucement of prizes for a children's painting competition and a concert in the evening featuring the premiere of "The Country Diary in song".
Quite a few years ago I wrote a series of posts called "Following in the Footsteps of an Edwardian Lady" where I visited some of the places in Warwickshire mentioned in Edith's diaries. If you would like to read these please click on "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" under labels. You may have to go back a bit by clicking on older posts at the foot of the page as some of the more recent labels only mention Edith in passing although they do cover areas she visited.
*D Photos taken by my son with the Canon Bridge SX50 bridge camera
Rest of photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera
