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There is something special about the English country house garden: from its quiet verdant lawns to its high yew hedges, this is a style much-desired and copied around the world.

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´This book will inspire and delight ... the stories of these gardens so compellingly captured by George Plumptre make the reader stop and tarry awhile, marvelling at the energy, the vision and the passion of the people who created gardens such as Hidcote, Sissinghurst and Great Dixter.´
( The English Garden )

´A feast of horticulture and Englishness.´
( House & Garden )

´Tells the tale of the English Country House Gardens over the past 500 years expertly and informatively.´
( Countryside Magazine )

´Sure to become a classic.´
( Garden Design Journal )

Gardening Book of the Year 2014
( Daily Telegraph )

Revised and updated edition.

There is something special about the English country house garden: from its quiet verdant lawns to its high yew hedges, this is a style much-desired and copied around the world. The English country house is most often conceived as a private, intimate place, a getaway from working life. A pergola, a sundial, a croquet lawn, a herbaceous border of soft planting; here is a space to wander and relax, to share secrets, and above all to enjoy afternoon tea. But even the most peaceful of gardens also take passion and hard work to create. This new book takes a fresh look at the English country house garden, starting with the owners and the stories behind the making of the gardens. Glorious photographs capture the gardens at their finest moments through the seasons, and a sparkling and erudite text presents twenty-five gardens - some grand, some personal, some celebrated, some never-before-photographed - to explore why this garden style has been so very enduring and influential. From the Victorian grandeur of Tyntesfield and Cragside, to the Arts & Crafts simplicity of Rodmarton Manor and Charleston; from Scampston, in the same family since the 17th century, to new gardens by Dan Pearson and Tom Stuart-Smith; and with favourites such as Hidcote and Great Dixter alongside new discoveries, this book will be a delicious treat for garden-lovers.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THREE ESSENTIALS

Hidcote, Gloucestershire

Sissinghurst, Kent

Great Dixter, East Sussex

UNFOLDING HISTORY

Montacute House, Somerset

Rousham House, Oxfordshire

Tyntesfield, Somerset

Rodmarton Manor, Gloucestershire

Folly Farm, Berkshire

COUNTRY HOUSE GARDEN IDEALS

Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire

Goodnestone Park, Kent

Kiftsgate Court, Gloucestershire

Trebah, Cornwall

Cothay Manor, Somerset

Helmingham Hall, Suffolk

Spencers, Essex

PERSONAL CREATIONS

Charleston, East Sussex

Exbury, Hampshire

Thorp Perrow, North Yorkshire

Felley Priory, Nottinghamshire

Lullingstone Castle, Kent

CONTEMPORARY DESIGNS

Scampston Hall, North Yorkshire

Seend Manor, Wiltshire

East Ruston Old Vicarage, Norfolk

Broughton Grange, Oxfordshire

The Old Rectory, Naunton, Gloucestershire

Contact Information & Select Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

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