Short Reviews
Go to Reviews Index
The National Gardens Scheme Yellow Book Gardens
of England & Wales Open for Charity (annual)
This book has details of over 3,500 gardens open to the public. The
text that is factual and useful. The Yellow Book allows one to visit many
gardens, both large and small, which are open only for a few days per
year. These gardens are not included in the Garden Visit and Travel Guide
but deatils are available from the National
Gardens Scheme website. The Yellow Book also contains on gardens which
are open regularly but which also open on a few days for charity.
Patrick Taylor The Gardener's Guide (annual)
Reasonably informative but written in a somewhat gushy style. The
guide has details of approx 400 gardens, accurately described as 'a personal
selection'; about 20% of the 'gardens' are really plant nurseries and
many excellent gardens are omitted. The colour photographs are satisfactory
but only 25% of them give an idea of what there is to see in the garden.
The book does not cover the Republic of Ireland.
Kathryn Bradley-Hole The garden lovers
guide to Britain (BBC Books 1998)
No photographs. The descriptions are colourful but somewhat lacking
in design, historical or horticultural perspective.
Charles Quest Ritson and Christopher Blair. RHS
Gardener's Handbook (Royal Horticultural Society)
A useful guidebook with about 120 pages of garden descriptions and
much other useful information.
Green Fingers: the gardener's directory (Daily
Telegraph)
A directory with about 40 pages of information on gardens
to visit. This information is less useful tha the trade directory which
occupies the remainder of the book.
Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens
(annual)
Approx 400 glossy magazine-type pages, this is the more comprehensive
of the two publications but the layout is seriously confused by the publishers
wish to place the big-spenders adverts at the start of each county section.
The only real ways of finding gardens are the map and the index (for which
most over-40s will require spectacles).
