Our Amati Affordable Auction is now Live!

Amati Instruments Ltd logo
  • Buying
    Buying at Auction Upcoming auctions
  • Selling
    Selling at Auction Get a valuation online Valuation days About our valuations The Instrument Archive
  • Auctions
    Upcoming auctions About our auctions Amati Specialist Amati Affordable Buying at auction Selling at auction
My Account Contact

Our Amati Affordable Auction is now Live!

Amati Instruments Ltd logo
  • Buying
  • Selling
  • Auctions
  • My Account Contact us
    Buying at Auction Upcoming auctions
    My Account Contact us
    Selling at Auction Get a valuation online Valuation days About our valuations The Instrument Archive
    My Account Contact us
    Upcoming auctions About our auctions Amati Specialist Amati Affordable Buying at auction Selling at auction
    My Account Contact us
    News 03 March 2025

    Ode to a Hedge

    James Buchanan avatar

    James BuchananDirector and Specialist

    There must be an egotism to writing blog posts that I don’t have.

    I splash something down on paper, only to realise quite how boring it might be to anyone other than myself. Anyone living in a family of three girls learns that you are only ever an anecdote from the ‘eye-roll’.

    On this occasion I am determined to be self-indulgent. Our clients need to know what they pay for (because it certainly isn’t holidays in Spain), and with whom they entrust their instruments.

    Seven years ago, Sarah was a fairy-godmother to a local gardener who was being treated badly. She helped him extract himself from a bad business relationship and retrieved money owed to him. She did it because it was the right thing to do and the gardener needed help.

    From that point on, twice a year J comes to our house, with his mother and a van full of tools and they garden. Six years ago they planted a line of 200 trees (white thorn, black thorn, dog roses) so this year it was time to turn the trees into a hedge. Once that was finished, and once Sarah had driven J to the hospital for a chainsaw wound, the mother and son team planted 300 more trees to continue the hedge around our house.

    As a 14 year old I would go to sleep thinking of Madonna. At 27 I was thinking of Sarah; for the last three days I have been going to bed dreaming of the birds that are going to live in our hedge.

    I have read a terrific book called Rebirding. It is one of those books that are only readable if you skip the first seven chapters that tell you how doomed we are and that everything is only two examples away from extinction. I fell in love with the idea of building a hazel maze, which is like Tower Hamlets for many birds and the dormouse until I realised that our drive was already a hazel maze. Nevertheless, despite my uselessness with the trowel of knowledge, I am becoming more and more of a re-wilder. Every tree we plant has bird-life in mind.

    Please bear with me on this supreme self-indulgence. I feel the way I did when I first met my wife. Telling everybody about the only thing that seemed to matter. They had my sympathy then, and you have mine now.

    Reality hits on a Monday morning. Sarah and I are at the airport about to start another round of gathering for our March auction. It is lucky I can dream of the birdlife flocking to the hedges, because we won’t see them for a few days yet.

    James Buchanan avatar
    James Buchanan
    Director and Specialist

    James is an expert in examining and valuing stringed musical instruments. He has worked for Bonhams, Christies, and was a founding member of Brompton’s.

    Share this:

    Related posts

    News

    The Corpse that Walked

    News

    Greetings from St. Andrews

    News

    Through the eyes of an expert

    News

    Easter Weekend

    Amati Auction Alerts

    Are you looking for something in particular? Sign up for our auction alerts.

    Amati logo
    Auctions
    • Amati Auctions
    • Upcoming
    • Specialist Auctions
    • Affordable Auctions
    Buying
    • Buying at Auction
    • Buying Guides
    • Makers Archive
    Selling
    • Selling at Auction
    • Selling Guides
    • Valuations
    Company
    • About
    • Blog
    • Account
    • Contact

    © 2025 Amati Instruments Ltd

    • Terms & Conditions
    • Privacy Policy

    Powered by Snoofa

    Manage Consent
    To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
    Functional Always active
    The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
    Preferences
    The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
    Statistics
    The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
    Marketing
    The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
    Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
    View preferences
    {title} {title} {title}