Posljednja dva vrta u Europi

Na zelenoj padini iznad sjeverne obale redovi ošišanih čajevaca spuštali su se prema moru u dugim, urednim prugama, gotovo kao da su povučeni ravnalom. Polly je sletjela na nizak kameni zid na rubu plantaže i pogledala preko jednog od samo dva mjesta na cijelom europskom kontinentu na kojima se čaj još uzgaja za tržište, i jedinog otvorenog za posjetitelje.

On a green hillside above the northern coast, rows of clipped tea bushes ran downhill in long, tidy stripes toward the sea, almost as neat as if they had been drawn with a ruler. Polly landed on a low stone wall at the edge of the plantation and looked out over one of only two places left on the entire European continent where tea is still grown commercially, and the only one open to visitors.

Plantaža je počela tisuću osamsto osamdeset treće, nakon što je bolest uništila naranče koje su nekoć bile glavni izvozni proizvod otoka. Tražeći nešto drugo što bi vulkansko tlo moglo podnijeti, jedan je domaći uzgajivač uvezao grmove čaja zajedno s engleskim strojevima napravljenima za njihovu preradu, i oboje je otad gotovo neprekidno u pogonu, što ovo imanje čini daleko najstarijim čajnim imanjem u Europi koje još radi.

The plantation began in eighteen eighty-three, after a disease wiped out the oranges that used to be the island's main export. Looking for something else the volcanic soil could support, a local grower imported tea bushes along with English machinery built to process them, and both have stayed in near-continuous use ever since, making this the oldest working tea estate in Europe by a wide margin.

Unutar niske zgrade tvornice željezni strojevi stariji od stoljeća i dalje motaju, razvrstavaju i suše listove gotovo jednako kao kad su brodom stigli. Radnici najmlađe izdanke i dalje beru rukom duž terasa, jer nježni vršni listovi daju najbolji čaj, a ovdje se ništa ne prska pesticidima ni herbicidima, pravilo kojega se uzgajivači drže od samog početka.

Inside the low factory building, iron machines more than a century old still roll, sort, and dry the leaves almost exactly as they did when they first arrived by ship. Workers still pick the newest growth by hand along the terraces, since the tender top leaves make the best tea, and nothing here is sprayed with pesticide or herbicide, a rule the growers have kept since the very beginning.

Polly je hodala jednom toplom terasom, dodirujući redove sjajnih zelenih listova koji su slabašno mirisali na travu i kišu. Negdje niz padinu pet naraštaja uzgajivača održalo je ovaj obronak točno onakvim kakav je trebao biti, jednu pažljivu berbu za drugom.

Polly walked along one warm terrace, brushing against rows of glossy green leaves that smelled faintly of grass and rain. Somewhere down the slope, five generations of growers had kept this hillside exactly as it was meant to be, one careful harvest at a time.