Book Review: Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds

Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds book cover
This isn't a conventional book review as I have to declare an interest. Victoria - one of the authors - is a very good friend of mine, so I've witnessed snippets of this book's birth for nearly 2 years. Not only that, she's generously mentioned me in her Acknowledgements - squeeeeeeee!

When Victoria told me about her commission and the title, I giggled as I thought there are very few gardens in the Cotswolds which are secret. Indeed it's one of the most well-known areas in the world gardens-wise.

The next time we met up I presented her with another book about Cotswold gardens. "Please make sure it's better than this one", I begged her, "this effort is little better than what you can find online".

I needn't have worried, this book is far, far better. Victoria has done her research thoroughly and I've visited just one of the gardens. Most are only open one or two days per year and some not at all, so these are gardens awaiting discovery. There's a useful listing at the back of the book, so I suspect they're poised to become more familiar to many of us this year.

Like the famous gardens such as Hidcote and Barnsley House, these have the characteristic mellow honeyed stone the Cotswolds bestows. Many also have the usual box and yew to give them structure and topiary often features, but there the similarity ends. Victoria and Hugo Rittson-Thomas have cleverly got beneath that familiar veneer and teased out the individuality of each of the 20 gardens featured.

This is partly due to the current makers being featured in most cases - including Hugo and his wife Silka at Walcot House. This is a good move because we not only have the owners as our guide, the thinking behind each garden's incarnation is revealed. We find that many of these are a work in progress, so this approach helps them feel more of a living, developing entity rather than set in aspic.

Victoria's essays are revealing and deftly written, and Hugo's photography is superb. I particularly like the one page pictorial summaries containing both broad views and tiny details. These help to provide a sense of movement through each garden.

Bravo Hugo and Victoria - I look forward to seeing you at the launch!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds is due for publication on February 5th 2015 by Frances Lincoln.

NB The Anxious Gardener has a competition for you to win a copy, though you'll need to be quick as the closing date is January 23rd.

If you're too late or unlucky, fear not. I have a special offer for you:

To order Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds at the discounted price of £16.00 including p&p* (RRP: £20.00), telephone 01903 828503 or email mailorders@lbsltd.co.uk and quote the offer code APG281. 

*= UK ONLY - Please add £2.50 if ordering from overseas.

Comments

  1. Sue Garrett19 January 2015 at 10:08

    Sounds to be an interesting book rather than the same old thing. I've not visited the blog that you mention so I won't take part in the draw as it always feels wring to visit just to take part in a competition. Pity some gardens are closed to the public and others only opened now and again. Maybe this could be part of a series and your friend can write one about the secret gardens of Yorkshire local to those of us up North

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 January 2015 at 10:16

      Sue - the next one is already in the pipeline... London! I'm pretty sure others will follow - after all there is a richness of gardens awaiting discovery up north. Do visit the website and enter if this book takes your fancy - you deserve to win as your blog is great! I've pretty much given up with competitions as I started them as a thank you to my readers and commenters. However they are so often 'hijacked' nowadays by people outside of the blogging community and it's so depressing to draw their names out of the hat.

      Delete
    2. Sue Garrett19 January 2015 at 11:14

      Which is really why I wouldn't enter a comp on a blog that I don't visit. It just doesn't seem fair. I don't get asked to do reviews any more since I wrote a less than enthusiastic one so I don't have to worry too much about competitions!

      Delete
    3. VP19 January 2015 at 11:22

      I knew whilst I was writing my reply that's what you'd say and I applaud you for being so self-restrained. However, I know you're generous with your comments and a thoughtful reader and it seems only fair for my fellow bloggers to spread the love to where it's deserved. As for reviews... I was worried about this one because Victoria is such a good friend...but then I know her writing, so I knew this would be a good read. Hugo's photos are delightful, but then it's fab subject matter and they both live un the area, so it'll have seeped into their pores. As for other reviews, honest ones are the only way we can do them isn't it? If mine is a bad one, I always let the company know first, so they have the opportunity to do something about it. I look at not just the product too e.g. I've fed back loads about the state of packaging I get and the companies involved really value that kind of information.

      Delete
    4. Sue Garrett19 January 2015 at 17:12

      The review that I didn't give a glowing testimony to was a book and in fairness I did include some positives but I just didn't enthuse. I always warn that any reviews will be honest or what is the point?

      Delete
    5. Victoria Summerley22 January 2015 at 00:52

      Thanks for your review, VP! It's always difficult to review things that friends have done, so if it's any consolation, your review broadly agrees with the one in this month's edition of The English Garden. And I don't know the woman who wrote that review at all!
      I think I might enter The Anxious Gardener's competition. I'm running out of copies to give to people. (Only joking, Sue Garrett!)

      Delete
  2. CJ19 January 2015 at 10:18

    It looks like a wonderful book, I'm a huge fan of the Cotswolds (and luckily they're not too far away from me). Some of the gardens and houses there are utterly beautiful. And thank you for the link to Victoria, I used to follow her blogs, but somehow I'd lost her. I happy to be back following her again, she writes so very well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 January 2015 at 10:23

      So glad you've found Victoria again CJ :) She and I started blogging at around the same time and she's been such a wonderful friend who also provides plenty of encouragement re my writing's progress :)

      Delete
    2. Victoria Summerley22 January 2015 at 00:54

      Thanks for the lovely compliment, CJ! Hope to see you at Tales from Awkward Hill.

      Delete
  3. Mark and Gaz19 January 2015 at 11:00

    Looking forward to reading Victoria's long awaited book!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 January 2015 at 11:11

      There are plenty of surprises guys! Like the garden where the maker imported tonnes of soil so he could grow acid loving plants!

      Delete
  4. Gail19 January 2015 at 12:16

    Now I am even more excited that I pre-ordered the book! Lovely review...I am so glad that blogging led me to you and Victoria. Please, don't put me in the drawing! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Donna19 January 2015 at 13:39

    I absolutely love the look and sound of this book and am also pre-ordering it on my side of the pond...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anna19 January 2015 at 22:42

    Oh I'm sure that this will be both well written and well informed VP. I'm still resisting book buying but maybe there are exceptions to the rule :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. David Marsden20 January 2015 at 08:56

    Hi Victoria, great review and I now wish I had bagged a copy. My partner's family live in Glos and we visit several times a year. I know what you mean by 'outsiders' winning competitions - I'm always delighted when a regular reader wins one of my competitions. But if I can further publicise a book and its authors by widening the net as wide as possible, that's a good thing isn't it? Thanks for the plug! Dave

    ReplyDelete
  8. Caro23 January 2015 at 14:37

    Now you've whetted my appetite and I was determined to resist buying more gardening books! I haven't searched out Victoria's blog yet but will remedy that - especially as you recommend her writing. Books like this with fab photos also provide inspiration on how to take good photos of gardens. I'd better pop back to David's blog and have a go at his competition. Good review, Michelle! x

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more