Customer Reviews
Stunning! - By: Peter Probert, 08 Jan 2009 
I genuinely don't remember ever reading anything quite so beautifully written & captivating. I have not been able to put it down & I have already bought several more copies to give to friends.
This marvellous book is lyrical, seductive & haunting - an absolute treasure.
A book to savour - By: L. Robinson, 26 Sep 2008 This book is a delight (as is the gardenin real life) The author is knowledgeable & paints the most vivid pictures. It is a book about the area of Shropshire she lives in, how it has evolved through the centuries, the house & garden & her sensitive reconstruction of it. She is a lady after my own heart with interests such as history, gardens, cats, flowers, geology, weather....it is so well written, I highly recommend it.
A perfect book - By: Mrs. Jean L. Le Maitre, 26 Aug 2008 This book is about far more than 'the story of a garden'. For me, it is that rare thing, a book that I did not want to put down & will certainly read again. It is writtenin such elegant prose with no superfluity almost to the point of self-effacement. The author's knowledge of so many diverse things is a constant delight to encounter. It is about gardening; about astronomy; about the roots of words & language; about the history of Morville & its environs; about the author's place amongst all this & so much more. I read as slowly as I could, not only to savour the text fully but so as to be able to go on sharing Dr.Swift's life & timesin rural Shropshire for as long as possible.
Evocative writing - By: Damaskcat, 20 Jun 2008 I'm something of an armchair gardener - all the pleasure & none of the work - & this book satisfied my liking to read about beautiful gardens. Its chapters are titled according to the monastic hours, echoing the house's monastic past. The author created a dreamlike garden out of a field beside her Shropshire house. The book is a description of the genesis of that garden with digressions into history, herbalism, religion & the uses & growing habits of the plants she seeks to cultivate. The writing is brilliantly clear & the garden comes to life as you read. There are line drawingsin the style of illustrations from a medieval book of hours, though no photographs, together with a plan of the layout of the garden This is a book to be enjoyed by anyone who has an interestin gardening, history or the spirit of human endeavour. To create such a magnificent garden is truly a labour of love
