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Garden Heaven
Vanessa Berridge
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R523
R424
Discovery Miles 4 240
Save R99 (19%)
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Borde Hill Garden is set in historic parkland in a designated Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty in West Sussex. The Elizabethan
mansion was purchased in the 1890s by Colonel Stephenson Robert
Clarke (known as Stephie), who set about creating the garden and
woodland using plants from several continents brought back to
England by the great plant hunters of the early 1900s. Well over a
century and three generations later, Borde Hill remains in the
ownership of the Stephenson Clarke family, and today is renowned
for its collection of rare shrubs and trees. This beautiful new
book - the first dedicated to Borde Hill - is structured in two
main parts. For the first, 'The History', Vanessa Berridge has had
exclusive access to the Borde Hill archive, which contains not only
family photographs but also a wealth of written sources, such as
letters between Stephie and nurserymen, directors of botanical
gardens, other landowners, and plant hunters. Giving unique insight
into the horticultural world and social history of the interwar
years, this correspondence reveals acts of courage by such famed
plant explorers as George Forrest and Ernest Wilson and the
professional level of accomplishment of Stephie and his gardening
acquaintances. The second part of the book takes the reader on an
extended tour of the garden, illustrated by the glorious
photography of John Glover. Borde Hill is laid out as a series of
intimate outdoor 'rooms', including the Old Rhododendron Garden,
the Rose Garden and the terraced Italian Garden. With its variety
further encompassing wide lawns that flow out into the countryside,
many plant species not found elsewhere in Britain and one of the
country's largest collections of privately owned rare trees, it is
no wonder that Borde Hill lays claim to offering visitors the world
in one garden. Concluding with information on Borde Hill's historic
plants, its many RHS Awards of Merit and its 70 champion trees,
this authoritative, engaging book is a fitting celebration of one
of Britain's great heritage gardens.
Kiftsgate Court, perched on the northern edge of the Cotswolds
Hills in Gloucestershire, is a garden composed of many different
scenes. Some elements - the bluebell wood, the clipped hedging and
the rose border, with its famously huge Kiftsgate rose - are
traditionally English, but there are also areas of Italianate
planting and terracing, and others where a mixture of perennials,
roses and rare and exotic shrubs thrive side by side. Equally
remarkable is the fine balance between continuity and gentle
evolution that the visitor finds at Kiftsgate. This is largely
because the garden has belonged to the same family since its
creation 100 years ago. Three women have tended Kiftsgate, each one
its driving force for a third of a century, and each building on
the legacy of the previous generation. In 1919 Heather Muir and her
husband, Jack, bought the house, which stands on a relatively
narrow plateau from which a bank plunges 100 feet. Heather gave
Kiftsgate its structure, laying out the semi-formal gardens by the
house, planting the tapestry hedge and rose garden, and terracing
the banks. In 1954 Heather was succeeded by her daughter, Diany
Binny, who extended and developed her mother's planting, made more
borders and paths, and refashioned the White Sunk Garden. Since the
late 1980s Diany's daughter, Anne Chambers, has been at the helm,
further modernizing the garden and its planting, creating new areas
of interest, and opening more often to the public. As Robin Lane
Fox, who has written the foreword, comments: `There is nowhere else
in Britain that has such a family tradition of planting and
dedication ... It is intimate but many-sided, evolving but with
roots in a remarkable past.' This beautiful new book - the first
dedicated to Kiftsgate - is structured in two main parts. For the
first, `The History', Vanessa Berridge has had exclusive access to
the Kiftsgate archive, which contains not only family photographs
but also letters from their gardening friends, helping us to
understand why and how Heather, Diany and Anne have gardened. Among
the circle of friends and acquaintances who feature are Lawrence
Johnston of Hidcote Manor (Kiftsgate's neighbour); Vita
Sackville-West, the creator of Sissinghurst Castle Garden; and the
horticulturalist Graham Stuart Thomas, gardens adviser to the
National Trust. The second part of the book takes the reader on an
extended tour of the garden, illustrated by the glorious
photography of Sabina Ruber. The tour concludes with notes on
Kiftsgate's signature plants and Anne Chambers's personal
reflections on this, one of the great gardens of England.
This pocket-sized miscellany, packed with fascinating facts, handy
hints and captivating stories and quotes from the world of
gardening, is perfect for anyone who knows the incomparable joy of
gardening.
The British have always been a nation of gardeners. Our gardening
history began even before the Romans, who brought Mediterranean
plants which still flourish across Britain. Gardening grew in the
sixteenth century and a distinctively British style became a major
export in the eighteenth century. Today, the annual Chelsea Flower
Show is an international festival, and our garden designers are in
demand all over the world. This book traces the history of British
gardening over 450 years through the stories of twenty-six key
figures, showing what drove them, and their role in the evolution
of Britain's gardens. Their work reveals changes in taste and
society down the centuries. Familiar names are featured, such as
'Capability' Brown, Humphry Repton, Gertrude Jekyll, Vita
Sackville-West and Christopher Lloyd, together with less generally
known figures such as John Gerard, whose Herball of 1597 inspired
generations of plantsmen, the Tradescants, pioneer plant hunters,
and J. C. Loudon, nineteenth-century champion of smaller gardens.
In the present day, we meet Beth Chatto, advocate of the right
plant in the right place, and John Brookes, who did for gardening
what Elizabeth David did for cooking. Their achievements provide a
colourful history and inspiration to every gardening enthusiast.
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