{"id":2665,"date":"2024-07-25T13:34:49","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T12:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/?page_id=2665"},"modified":"2024-09-12T18:42:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T17:42:43","slug":"englands-gardens-a-modern-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/englands-gardens-a-modern-history\/","title":{"rendered":"England’s Gardens: A modern history"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Author: <\/strong>Stephen Parker \u2013 A garden historian and lecturer.<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Dorling Kindersley<\/p>\n

The release of this book coincided with the seed of my intention to visit more gardens taking root. It was a timely coincidence, and so, in ordering the book I had a set of practical expectations. I wanted it to be informative, I wanted pictures, I wanted some historical context in relation to the chosen gardens, and I wanted to be entertained.<\/p>\n

The book explores gardens in a broader context than the more traditional \u201cgarden visit\u201d type publications. Stephen attempts to get under the soil of the gardens in order to explore both history and context<\/p>\n

What I liked: <\/strong>It was informative \u2013 I never take it as a given that I will \u201clearn\u201d something from a book. Having left the halls of academia, the primary driver, for the most part, is that of enjoyment. A combination of the two therefore is a good match. Not surprisingly there were, for me, many \u201cnew\u201d discoveries within the book.<\/p>\n

I really like the succinct style of writing and the well-paced structure of the book. It\u2019s not simply chapter after chapter of \u201cgardens\u201d. There are interludes that provide historical context (e.g. politics, economics, and empire, plant hunters and collectors, modernity & transition). These are short enough to hold the attention and long enough to illuminate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The book also has a strong \u201cdip-in\/dip-out\u201d quality. Opening the book randomly and turning to the nearest chapter I began to read \u2026 \u201cWomen help each other\u201d. I was automatically drawn into the writing given that I\u2019d recently read Catherine Horwood\u2019s book,\u00a0 \u201cGardening women: Their stories from 1600 to the present\u201d<\/em> (review to follow). Stephen Parker takes us succinctly through a timeline of \u201cwomen as weeders\u201d, \u00a0“women as writers”, women as mental health “ground breakers” (Lady Henry Somerset opened a residential centre caring for women with alcoholism)<\/em>. Whilst these are fleeting visits to a world that has been explored in more depth elsewhere, they are a welcome pause in our exploration of gardens and add a degree of context in which to consider the gardens being explored.<\/p>\n

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Would I want more from a book of this type \u2026. not really, this is a competitive market and the points of difference in Stephen’s book are a real positive. I would go further and suggest that a similar exploration of Scottish, Welsh, and Irish gardens, executed in the same style would be desirable. A very small addition would be a more detailed table of contents which would have been useful. The chapters are identified but individual case studies aren\u2019t \u2026 it\u2019s just a minor point.<\/p>\n

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The choice of gardens is well-balanced and not limited to the more well-known locations. From castles to King\u2019s Cross, Highgrove to Hauser & Wirth, Sissinghurst to Shute, there is something here for everyone and the writer\u2019s passion for \u201call things garden\u201d is apparent throughout the book.<\/p>\n

Am I glad it\u2019s on my shelves \u2026 absolutely.<\/p>\n

Price: \u00a318.69 Amazon (currently)<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBack to \"Reviews\"<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Author: Stephen Parker \u2013 A garden historian and lecturer. Publisher: Dorling Kindersley The release of this book coincided with the seed of my intention to visit more gardens taking root. It was a timely coincidence, and so, in ordering the book I had a set of practical expectations. I wanted it to be informative, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2665","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2665"}],"version-history":[{"count":94,"href":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4365,"href":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2665\/revisions\/4365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygardentalkstome.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}