Image by Tim Mercer
I had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with Hazell Tovey in her fascinating home last week. A lot of you will know and love Hazell - she has lived in Chantry for 50ish years and she writes "Jottings from a Country Churchyard" every month for 5Alive Magazine. She has lived pretty much next door to Holy Trinity for all this time and her love of her rural surroundings positively bursts from her.
Hazell is in her early 90s - not that you'd know it. I wanted to spend a bit of time with her because I'm fascinated with the history and stories of our community. I am, like her, a passionate nature lover and fanatical gardener. Any questions I have about the trees or birds in Chantry, I feel pretty sure that Hazell will have the answer! For example, our local ravens - they form a kind of soundtrack to our village life - I love to hear their "cronking" as they fly over the garden. Well, Hazell tells me that they have nested in the cedar tree in the churchyard for as long as she has lived here and she recognises the cronks of the individuals.
Hazell is a trained librarian but when she came to Chantry in her early 40s she couldn't find a library that needed her. Instead she saw a job advertised for a secretary at Rode Bird Gardens (no longer in existence) and she knew that she had to have that job despite not having the required skills. She also felt she was a little too old for the position, but she shaved off a couple of years when asked about her age and they never knew any different. Well, Hazell's love of birds and her optimistic and bubbly personality meant that she had that job for the next 27 years and was probably the most knowledgeable person there in the end.
Image by Parrotsandrew
Hazell's home - Bird Shadows - is full of birdie bits and pieces, especially tropical birds. Parrot candle sticks, cushions, pictures, figurines - you name it, it will probably be bird related! Bird Shadows was originally the stable block to Chantry Grange, which was the house her parents purchased after moving from Surrey. A big grand house, which became home to not only Hazell and her parents, but also her grandparents and uncle. I was fascinated about the move to Chantry from their Surrey home - they had lived in another very grand house with huge grounds, but Hazell said "poverty" forced the move. Her parents had worked "in service" and her father was a butler. They got used to living and working in these almost stately homes of the nobility, and it was just normal for them to want to live in something similar, but they never had the funds to furnish or decorate to quite the same level! Instead, Hazell's mother would trawl around "junk" shops in search of bargain antique clocks, crockery, trinkets, rugs, and furniture that would fill their home. Hazell knows a thing or two about searching out bargains!
Hazell devoted most of her life to caring for her relatives, and her beloved mother was the last to die, but once she had passed away, there was no way that Hazell could continue to run the big house. Instead, she had the idea of creating a new home from the stable block and keeping some of the land for her garden. Bird Shadows was born. I have omitted to write about Ron (there is a beautiful love story here), because Hazell has written her book (Bird Shadows) about the creation of their home and their love for each other. Sadly, Ron died before the construction work even began. It is testament to Hazell's character that she carried on nonetheless to create a home close to her beloved Grange, the church, and of course, still in Chantry.
Hazell’s love of animals was inherited from her parents, who became the “go to” people for any strays, injured or lost creatures. They would hear about owners who no longer wanted their pets and had talked about abandoning dogs. They would say “no, no, no, we will take them in”. Hazell has so many tales about these waifs and strays. I love her passion for her much-loved crow – called Crow. She also took in an injured tawny owl – called Owl! By the time Owl was better, there was no way he could be released back into the wild, so Hazell had an outside aviary created around one of her trees and Owl was fed tidbits of meat every day. She told me that he was so sweet – he would stand up tall and proud against the tree, but she could stroke his head and he would shrink down with pleasure, eyes closing, until he resembled a feathery ball – completely round.
I talk about Owl because I was taken with a carved wooden owl that sits on the banister at the bottom of the stairs in Bird Shadows. It’s actually a rather special feature of the house – given as a gift to Hazell by her friend Charlie on the completion of the home. Forever known as Charlie’s owl, Hazell hopes that he will remain a permanent feature with whoever eventually owns Bird Shadows. He is particularly special because he was carved from a White Beam tree that fell in the churchyard. Charlie collected the timber, which is apparently perfect for carving – I don’t know what else he created, but that’s a real bit of Chantry history right there.
I must mention Hazell’s garden – there is a lot of it and yes, too much for her to manage alone now, but wow, it felt like I’d entered the Secret Garden. The magnolias are huge, the orchard is ancient, the “wedding cake tree” worthy of a spot in Kew Gardens – and there are nooks and hidey holes, and doorways and benches, overgrown pathways and a very special round wooden summer house that is over 100 years old that can be turned 360 degrees on a circular bit of track to face the sun. I love this garden – a haven for nature and a haven for Hazell.
I could spend many hours chatting to Hazell, and hopefully I will. There is more to be told about her writing career – articles for all sorts of publications and she writes countless letters every day – and there is an important story about her history as a Poll Clerk which I will cover at a later date.
No one could fail to be uplifted by her humour and her optimism – it is a true pleasure to be in her company. On reading her book, I couldn’t quite get over how resilient and positive she always remained in very stressful situations, especially over the sale of The Grange and the construction of Bird Shadows. And what about her cancer diagnosis and very invasive treatment (thankfully successful). I asked her if she had always been so optimistic, and she paused and said “Oh I always know that things will turn out OK in the end”. A lesson for us all.
Thank you for being you Hazell.
Read more in Hazell Tovey's book "Bird Shadows"
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