Secret Gardens of Somerset

Book excerpt: Secret Gardens of Somerset offers a personal tour of 20 of the UK’s most beguiling gardens in this much-loved area of southern England, defined by its distinctive horticulture, rolling hills, picturesque villages and the most traditional English landscape. Abigail Willis and Clive Boursnell give you privileged access to 20 gardens, from a highly productive working flower farm to very personal private retreats, revealing their history, design and plant collections, in the company of their devoted owners and head gardeners. In the footsteps of artists and trend-setters from Victorian designers such as Harold Peto to planting visionary, Gertrude Jekyll as well as contemporary pioneer Piet Oudolf, we find a series of beguiling country gardens of different sizes and atmospheres, which have shaped the English identity, and in different ways express the ideals of English life. The gardens: The American Museum and Gardens, Barley Wood Walled Garden, Batcombe House, The Bishop’s Palace, Common Farm, Cothay Manor, East Lambrook Manor, Elworthy Cottage, Forest Lodge, Greencombe Gardens, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Hestercombe, Iford Manor, Kilver Court, Midney Gardens, Milton Lodge gardens, The Newt in Somerset, Stoberry House, Westbrook House, and Yeo Valley Organic Garden. Most of the gardens included here are privately owned and usually open to the public. Meanwhile, all of these landscapes can now be enjoyed through the eyes of the owners themselves. Tour even more magnificent English gardens with Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds and Secret Gardens of East Anglia.