Herterton House and a New Country Garden - Softcover

Lawley, Frank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 191025858X ISBN 13: 9781910258583

Publisher: Pimpernel Press, 2015

Synopsis

Frank and Marjorie Lawley have spent almost 40 years at Herterton House, a 16th century farmhouse on the Wallington Estate, near Cambo (birthplace of Capability Brown) in Northumberland in the North of England. When they leased Herterton from the National Trust in 1976, the Lawleys took on a series of derelict farm buildings. This highly original and personal book describes in detail how, with patience and passion, they restored Herterton House and created an exquisite and unique garden. As well as discussing the practicalities involved, it also describes the influences and the lifetime of thinking behind their achievement. Within its mere acre, the garden at Herterton House provides more visual interest and more interesting plants (plants you can also buy from its small nursery) than many gardens 20 times its size. It also stimulates visitors to think about what plants to use and how to use them, about the history of English gardens, about the relation of the past to the present, and about the relation of a garden to the landscape around it. This stunning book records and celebrates Frank and Marjorie's achievement over four decades at Herterton House. With photographs by Val Corbett and an introduction by Charles Quest-Ritson.

About this title

About the Author:

Frank Lawley and his wife have spent the past four decades rescuing Herterton House near Wallington, a long-abandoned 16th century farmhouse, and designing, creating, and maintaining around it a new but appropriate country garden. Val Corbett is a freelance photographer based in the Lowther Valley on the eastern fringe of the Lake District. She is well known for her garden and landscape photography. Charles Quest-Ritson is a UK-based writer and journalist specializing in horticulture and social history.

Review:

'"A remarkable book..uniquely engaging, should also be read for its wisdom and its poetry." * The Lady * "Written in fresh, often beautifully simple language, which has an emotional resonance that's rare in a garden book. The design is just right for this thoughtful book. This is a gem of a book, destined to become a classic." -- Susie White * The English Garden * "The book is a delight to read and the gardens are a joy to visit. Start your Christmas shopping early by buying the book - for anyone and everyone who loves gardens." * The Journal * "Frank and Marjorie Lawley have been making and tending a deeply considered acre of garden for almost 40 years. I am one of the admirers of its striving for unity without repetition and its exceptionally subtle use of shapes and colours. Now Frank has given us a full study of its making. He tells it with unusual clarity and aptness. His book, Herterton House and a New Country Garden, is unmissable, a simple but penetrating account of a home and garden's formation and the Lawleys' gradual realisation of both." -- Robin Lane-Fox * Financial Times * "For anyone who enjoys visiting gardens, there are few pleasures to match that of discovering a hidden jewel in an out of the way corner. That in a way is the sort of experience I have had in encountering this engaging book." * Topiarius * "The Lawleys are unique in today's fashion-driven gardening world, 'doing their own thing', doing it superlatively. The book is required reading for any rookie garden maker, and the garden itself should be on everyone's visiting itinerary while its begetters are still above ground." -- David Wheeler * The Oldie * "Lovingly penned, deeply personal and strangely moving, it speaks volumes about the intense relationship that a gardener gradually forges with the space that he/she tends." * Irish Times * "a fascinatingly personal account...chatty and engaging, it's fully a memoir, only incidentally a gardening guide." -- David Sexton * Evening Standard Best Gardening Books of 2015 *

About this edition

• Publisher: Pimpernel Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 191025858X
• ISBN 13: 9781910258583
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264