Paths that refuse a straight line

A straight path is sometimes a road, and a garden does not always want a road. We bend the walk when the bend reveals the house slowly, or saves a tree that was there before the brief.

The foot should feel a change underfoot when the place changes: gravel in the orchard, stone at the door, something quieter beside a bed. Those shifts are how a ground speaks without a sign.

We still use a straight line when the land asks for one. A long approach across open ground is a pleasure because it does not wander. Each path is a decision, made once, and then walked for years.