Marrakech, the place where my extended Moroccan stay began, offered white Atlas mountains and palm trees -- having done snow on the equator with Kilimanjaro I am in danger of getting blase about these climatic contrasts, but it was rather impressive nonetheless.
We stayed in a traditional ryad -- all arches, courtyards and cool cloisters.
It was made of mud brick, the most ancient of all man-made building materials, which I was surprised to see was still in widespread use.
I worried a bit about what would happen if it rained, but luckily it didn't. Judging from the inside I think it was fairly waterproof.
The chap we rented it from claimed it was a "ryad ecologique" although I wasn't really sure what that signified. I guess the traditional build goes a long way towards it -- but perhaps not the swimming pools and large flat screen TVs.
It provided a good base for our labours at the Menara Gardens where I helped-out with the REEP garden as part of the children's festival at Jardin'Art. We worked under garden designer maestro, Christopher Jordan.
And built, Chelsea style, a show garden in 48 hours, ready for the onslaught of visitors...
I enjoyed running workshops for the kids. There seemed to be a pent-up demand for drawing, so with hundreds of coloured pencils and reams of paper we got them creating...
