ISLAND GARDENS

HAVENS OF BEAUTY AROUND THE BRITISH ISLES

Jackie Bennett

Photography by Richard Hanson

White Lion Publishing | September 2018 £25.00 | Hardback

The British Isles consists of more than 6,000 islands scattered around the main islands of Britain and Ireland. More than 100 of these British off-shore islands are inhabited – and where there are people, there are gardens. Tidal gardens, gulf-stream-soaked tropical gardens, windswept remote gardens with knarled and ancient trees, and gardens surrounding castles and monasteries of historical significance.

The amazing light, vast skies and borrowed coastal views of Britain’s island gardens make them an attractive pilgrimage for gardeners. By ferry, boat, plane and car, author Jackie Bennett and photographer Richard Hanson have covered more than 7500 miles to record the amazing achievements of its resourceful gardeners. Some, like Tresco in the Isles of Scilly are Mediterranean paradises, outcrops in the sea, blessed with warm winds and benign winters. Others in Orkney and the Hebrides require a special kind of determination to create a horticultural haven– sometimes surviving thanks only to robust trees and hedges – where the soil can be thin, the winds relentless and little grows taller than a human being. Each little gardening world faces its unique set of challenges. Yet great things happen under difficult circumstances as the authors reveal on this remarkable Island Gardens journey.

Jackie Bennett has travelled widely, visiting and writing about gardens. Her books include Shakespeare’s Gardens, The Writer’s Garden and Wild About the Garden. She is a former editor of The Garden Design Journal and The English Garden.

Richard Hanson is a travel and location photographer who has captured gardens at home and abroad. His first book with Jackie Bennett was the bestselling The Writer’s Garden, published by Frances Lincoln in 2014. For Island Gardens he used both conventional and aerial photography.

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