The Last Two Gardens in Europe

On a green hillside above the coast, rows of tea bushes grew in neat lines down to the sea. They looked almost as tidy as a drawing. Polly landed on a stone wall and looked out. This is one of only two places left in Europe that still grows tea, and the only one people can visit.

Na zelenem pobočju nad obalo so čajevci rasli v urejenih vrstah vse do morja. Videti so bili skoraj tako natančni kot risba. Polly je pristala na kamnitem zidu in pogledala navzdol. To je eden od samo dveh krajev v Evropi, kjer še vedno pridelujejo čaj, in edini, ki ga ljudje lahko obiščejo.

The farm began in eighteen eighty-three. Before that, the island grew oranges, but a disease killed the orange trees. The growers needed something new for the volcanic soil, so they brought in tea plants and old English machines. Both are still used today, which makes this the oldest tea farm in Europe.

Plantaža Gorreana se je začela leta tisoč osemsto triinosemdeset. Prej je otok pridelival pomaranče, a je bolezen uničila pomarančevce. Pridelovalci so za vulkansko prst potrebovali nekaj novega, zato so pripeljali čajevce in stare angleške stroje. Oboje uporabljajo še danes, zato je to najstarejša čajna kmetija v Evropi.

Inside the small factory, iron machines more than a hundred years old still roll and dry the leaves. Workers still pick the newest leaves by hand, because the youngest leaves make the best tea. No pesticides are used here, a rule the growers have followed since the very start.

V mali tovarni železni stroji, stari več kot sto let, še vedno zvijajo in sušijo liste. Delavci najmlajše liste še vedno nabirajo ročno, saj najmlajši listi dajo najboljši čaj. Tukaj ne uporabljajo pesticidov, kar je pravilo, ki mu pridelovalci sledijo od samega začetka.

Polly walked along a warm row of tea plants. The leaves smelled like grass after rain. Five generations of growers had cared for this hillside, one harvest at a time.

Polly se je sprehodila ob topli vrsti čajevcev. Listi so dišali kot trava po dežju. Pet generacij pridelovalcev je skrbelo za to pobočje, ena žetev za drugo.