Life In A Cottage Garden, By Carol Klein - A Review

Written to accompany the TV series of the same name (which unfortunately I've not seen and have infuriatingly just found out was repeated last month), this book takes you through the development and  changes to Carol's garden at Glebe Cottage over the space of a year.

The book is a very nicely bound hardback with a canvas spine, which makes picking it up and reading it a pleasure. It is mainly a garden diary of sorts charting the rise and fall of various plant types in different areas of the garden starting in winter, and following through to the following one. It is not really a "how to" book as such, but I have picked up quite a few interesting ideas whilst reading that I intend to try myself. The writing style very much reflects the way she speaks (at least when presenting) and you can practically feel her infectious enthusiasm for the subject matter - her garden - oozing from the pages. She has a talent  for description that does an amazing job of conjuring up images, sounds, and smells of the garden for the reader. This, combined with the gorgeous photography by Jonathan Buckley, make for a very rewarding read. I particularly like the sections throughout the book that showed photos of different parts of the garden throughout the seasons which gives a great insight into just how much growth occurs in the space of a year.

I seem to be developing a bit of a liking for garden diaries (I have another two waiting to be read) and this is a good one. Highly recommended. Now, if only I could catch the series when it's next shown...