Folk paintings (3) inspired by the Walled Garden at Lydiard Park

Three paintings by Mervyn Grist inspired by English folklore and created as part of 'In Search of Apples', an art and folklore exhibition staged by Artologist Julie Smith and Mervyn Grist at Lydiard Park in September 2025.

1. The Apple Man
2. Mr Love Escorts the Devil from the Garden
3. The Gathering

The paintings are based on some of the apple lore once common among those who tended Wiltshire orchards. The Apple Man was said to place gold under apple trees as a reward for those who cared for them.

Mr Love Escorts the Devil from the Garden references The Wassail which took place in January when people attempted to drive the devil from the orchard and appease the birds with toast in the branches, in the hope they would spread apple seeds. Mervyn's gardener has a strong resemblance to a photograph of Lydiard gardener Mr Love which can be seen in Items of Interest below.

The Gathering is an impression of the old ceremony of 'Gath'rin' in the apple harvest.

Summer Brings the Apple Man and Mr Love Escorts the Devil from the Garden are painted in gouache, and The Gathering in ink and coloured pencil.