Description
‘A book that celebrates so beautifully what every gardener dreams about.’
Alan Titchmarsh
For centuries, walled gardens have provided a wealth of food, fruit and flowers for our great houses. Beginning as simple medieval enclosures, they evolved into powerful status symbols and centres of world-class horticultural expertise. Yet during the 20th century their fortunes failed, and most were lost or abandoned, as were many of the skills needed to run them. Happily, today many have been revived.
Well known for presenting the BBC’s hit series ‘Escape to the Country’ and ‘Countryfile’, Jules Hudson is an archaeologist and historian. He brings these skills along with an infectious enthusiasm for gardens and social history to this beautifully illustrated book. Working with a rich and colourful cast of gardeners and owners, he discovers the features that define our greatest walled kitchen gardens, providing an invaluable template for those many other examples that still await restoration.
From the fairytale enclosure of Knightshayes in Devon to the garden that Churchill built by hand at Chartwell in Kent, from the recently revived garden at Blickling in Norfolk to the atmospheric ruins at Plas Newydd in North Wales, Walled Gardens is the perfect guide for anyone who shares a fascination for these unique and enchanting spaces.
Les Key (verified owner) –
Excellent book indeed. Bought it for my mum after having a peek myself. Lovely illustrations and a pleasure to read. She will certainly enjoy this on her 88th birthday very soon. Thank you so very much and hope you sell many more. Regards.