Nick, who sleeps in the open, became a friend of Emma Tarlo

ALREADY saddened by the death of her mother, Emma Tarlo became particularly stressed during the Covid lockdown and the often “mindless” bureaucracy of university life.

But when Tarlo, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London, met two rough sleepers in nearby Regent’s Park, she became…well, inspired.

Speaking to Review, Tarlo said that the result is her new book, Under The Hornbeams. It’s a fascinating account of how the Primrose Hill-based author became friends with the two men who slept under trees – Nick and Pascal.

Tarlo was not only full of admiration for the men, but regularly brought them food and spent many hours chatting with them. She was impressed that Nick and Pascal were able to stay positive and friendly without a roof over their heads.

“They had learned how to live in the moment, appreciate the beauty of nature, and bring out the best in other people, ” she explained.

Both Nick and Pascal were empathetic but Nick was outgoing and Pascal the quiet one. Nick is philosophical. “When you have nothing, you actually have everything.”

Tarlo has now taken early retirement and believes that her experiences may help many people with similar difficult working lives who might benefit from a more outdoor life.

For Tarlo, who is married with a son, the national Covid lockdown announced in March 2020 became an event that changed her life for the better.

She was introduced to Nick and Pascal by a local dog walker. They were living hidden from view behind a circle of trees in long grass. Nick was in his 60s and Pascal his 40s. How on earth did they manage to survive the cold and London’s almost perpetual rain?

It was suggested that perhaps because they had been living outside together at various parts of the capital for 16 or more years, they did not apparently feel the cold like everyone else.

Emma Tarlo

Living outside all the time, you adapt to the weather, they said. Indeed, they had no tent and never made fires but seemed to get by using heavy tarpaulins to sit on and old sleeping bags. When it rained they stood under umbrellas.

What’s more, Nick and Pascal enjoyed living outside and never considered themselves homeless. They looked well and were considered nice and friendly, building up a large fan club.

Tarlo made an early connection with Nick because they had both lost their mums. She tells him how relieved she was that her dear mum passed away before the lockdown. “She had Alzheimer’s and wouldn’t have understood what was going on,” Tarlo writes.

Nick replied that he was sorry for her loss and after his mother died he sat with her and thanked her for all she’d done for him. He was particularly kind and sympathetic to people seriously ill.

There was a local man with terminal cancer, a writer and composer called Henry, who came to sit with Nick and Pascal in the final months of his life before he died in 2017.

“He’d come for peace of mind,” said Nick. “He loved the trees and the birdsong.”

Henry’s family were so grateful for the love and care they’d shown to Henry that Nick and Pascal were invited to St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate his life.

Tarlo describes how Covid contributed to problems including “Kafkaesque” layers of bureaucracy at her university. There were also government cuts, uncertain recruitment figures, a spiralling deficit, and proposals for industrial action by her union.

“Visiting Nick and Pascal feels like an escape,” Tarlo writes. “I can’t help recognising a certain freedom in their way of life, in spite of the inevitable discipline and hardship it entails.”

But then one day in cold midwinter Tarlo arrived and Nick explained that he and Pascal have been evicted from the site in the early hours by police and park officials. Tarlo is upset. She writes: “Why would anyone choose to evict them now? In the darkness? In midwinter? Midway through a lockdown?”

Their next home was beneath Macclesfield Bridge, close to Camden lock. It was dank and smelly, noisy from traffic and a far cry from the previous wonderful wildlife habitat. But Tarlo reveals that they have since vacated the bridge and moved to a more leafy spot. “I met up with them again recently and they are both very well,” she said.

• Under the Hornbeams: A True Story of Life in the Open. By Emma Tarlo. Faber, £16.99