Water Willow, by Dante Gabriel Rosetti (Kelmscott in the background)

David Cameron isn’t the only person to have had a personal epiphany about nature at Kelmscott. Cameron related a story about Two Water Voles, to the Parliamentary Liaison Committee yesterday, about which I have just written.

The PM used his “two voles” story, to illustrate why landowners should be given the freedom to dredge and ditch without interference from red-tape wielding hi-vis jacketed busybodies from the Environment Agency. He and others also used it to make the point that nature gets in the way of progress.

But there is another Kelmscott story. Because Kelmscott was home to William Morris. Morris was an anarchist/socialist, so perhaps he might not be welcome on the PM’s radar.

Morris also helped found the National Trust. But Morris is more famous as one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts movement; a movement inspired by nature, by the plants and animals that Morris and his fellow artists found in the countryside around them, in places like Kelmscott.

Morris understood that People Need Nature. When will we get a Prime Minister who understands?

“Dante Gabriel Rossetti Water Willow 1871” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Wikipaintings.org. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org