by James Alexander-Sinclair
[...] a holiday is not really a proper holiday without a couple of books to while away moments of idleness. May I suggest a couple of excellent garden-related books for your consideration?
Are you off on holiday? I do hope so. A week or two spent lying around not doing much is an excellent way of restoring a gardener’s energy and enthusiasm. Maybe you would rather charge about being active instead, never happier than when going for a run in the morning and a cross-country bicycle ride in the afternoon. Or perhaps your holidays are spent in the relentless search for culture, museums and stately homes never far from your inquiring mind.
Whatever your choice, a holiday is not really a proper holiday without a couple of books to while away moments of idleness. A bit of light and trashy fiction is the usual choice teamed with one or two of the books that you were given for Christmas and have not got round to reading yet. Oh, and that slightly more intellectual book that you have been meaning to read for ages (usually the one that will remain, untroubled, in your suitcase).
May I suggest a couple of excellent garden-related books for your consideration?
First, Stephen Anderton’s biography of the great gardener and plantsman, Christopher Lloyd. Most of you will be familiar with his garden at Great Dixter, either through magazines, books or by visiting the garden. This book caused a bit of a kerfuffle when it was first published, due to the fair amount of gossip mixed in with the horticulture. Speculation about his sex life and tidbits about his odd family life (his mother, who often dressed up as a Puritan, ran his bath for him every evening until he was 51) was considered unhelpful. See what you think...
Less contentious and more amusing is Anthony Woodward's Garden in the Clouds. This is the story of Anthony and his family turning a Welsh smallholding into a garden worthy of the National Gardens Scheme. It is very easy to read and an excellent story involving the winching of a railway carriage up a mountain, a lot of fog, some sheep and a slightly scary NGS gardens inspector. This is a perfect book for a deckchair.
Perhaps if you are holidaying somewhere exceptionally lovely you may feel an urge for poetry. In which case I must recommend Weeds and Wild Flowers, a collection of poems by Alice Oswald, gorgeously illustrated by Jessica Greenman. The poems attribute various human characteristics, some funny, some tragic, to various well-known native plants. Beautifully written.
Alternatively you could read back copies of Hello! magazine. It’s your holiday. Enjoy yourselves.
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