Spiritual Places

Shaw's Corner, Ayot St Lawrence

I have been going to Shaw's Corner in Ayot St Lawrence, the former home of playwright George Bernard Shaw, since I was quite small. My grandmother was brought up in that area and it has always felt like I am somehow going back to my roots.

I used to be fascinated by her tales of talking over the fence to the white haired old gentleman but it wasn't until secondary school that I realised exactly who she was talking about and how privileged she had been.

Much later on when I was at university I used to head up there to escape the stress of revision but still feel like I was working. After all, if I was at the place where some of the work that I was studying was written, it would help me wouldn't it?! Well, it worked for me!

Shaw's garden provided peace for writing

I didn't study Shaw until I did Pygmalion for O'level but since then his work has had a profound effect on the way that I think. But his work hasn't neccessarily told me WHAT to think, but HOW to think.

I may not always agree with his politics - after all, it's easy to be a socialist when you live in a nice house isn't it? But his work gives me the confidence to challenge things. And going to the place where he lived and being where he thought what he did gives me both inspiration and the courage of my convictions.

Reading Shaw has taught me to question what is considered to be accepted opinion and to strip away the layers of society to uncover and challenge hypocrisy everywhere.

He has allowed me to be a true individual unafraid to speak up for what I believe is right and not to simply follow the crowd when I can see that it is the wrong path for me.

Shaw's Corner is presented to the public just as it was when he lived there and the attention to detail is amazing. When you are in the house it feels like he is still there and has just popped out for a walk. It really is the living shrine that he wanted.

For me this reinforces the fact that he existed and if he wasn't afraid to express himself then neither am I.

The garden looks out over the Herts countryside

The three and a half acre garden is beautiful and very quiet and being deep in the Hertfordshire countryside there are also good views of the surrounding area. Shaw's writing hut is still at the bottom and it is easy to see how this garden provided the perfect retreat for him to write inspirational works.

He moved there in 1906 in order to be near to London but at the same time get some peace and quiet. And being so close to nature certainly helps to put things in perspective.

It is the perfect place to be able to walk or sit and think or just get some peace. I don't think I will ever stop going there.