Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds

If you had a peek at the basket being raffled at Garden Club you would have seen the following book:

The Cotswold's is an area in west-central England. It is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and covers 2,038 square kilometres (787 sq mi). The rolling hills, steep escarpments and small wooded valleys enjoy a temperate climate. A tradition of prosperity has allowed its inhabitants to build splendid houses out of the local honey-coloured limestone. To complement such dwellings magnificent gardens were created by the most famous designers money could buy. Cotswold Tourism lists 26 gardens, such as Hidcote, open to the public..

The purpose of the book is to take the reader inside twenty Cotswold gardens equally as beautiful but not open to the public. Some have been in families for generations-centuries even, some have been restored or created recently. In all cases Victoria Summerly gives a detailed account of the care, challenges, plans and planting. There is a useful guide to locations at the back of the book.

The owners are profiled and the reasons for supporting these expensive gardens are varied-duty, love, business interests, status symbols or a passion for plants. Gardens surround castles, a zoo, a Raj fantasy and a former monastery. One is used to showcase priceless sculptures, another preserves medieval fish ponds.

Sezincote

My favourite in the book is Abbotswood in Stow on the Wold, created by wealthy plant hunter, Mark Fenwick. He quickly grew bored with conventional garden layout and planted exuberantly. 

Abbotswood

Enjoy the book for a chance to go beyond some rather fancy gates, to meet some thought provoking characters, to add to your knowledge of the Golden Age of British garden design and see some modern interpretations. A caution-you need to like topiary and statuary, there is an awful lot of it. 

This is a brand new book, donated by the publisher for review. Buy a raffle ticket and you may be the owner. All proceeds go to the Christmas Cheer campaign.

Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds.

Text by Victoria Summerly
Photography by Hugo Rittson-Thomas
Published by Frances Lincoln Limited
$22 new on Amazon

Images used with publisher's permission.