GARDEN PEOPLE: VALERIE FINNIS AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF GARDENING
‘One of our favourites of the year … fascinating and charming’
BBC Gardeners’ World
‘A classic record of great gardeners … an unmissable book … the defining record of sixty years of English gardening and the people who really knew what they were doing’
The Financial Times
‘Beautifully evocative … epitomizes life, society and gardens in the second half of the 20th century’
Amateur Gardening
‘Wonderful images … a lovely read, part social history, part gardening record'
The Gloss Magazine
'The book is an endearing chronicle of a lost age'
Sunday Times
THE ENGLISH GARDEN
'...Buchan has done a brilliant job in boxing and coaxing the vast sweep of English garden history into an engaging narrative.'
The Independent
'The themed chapters are a good way to tackle the mass of information and Buchan has a light touch and a dry view of design foibles. I liked her comment about the appeal of hard landscaping to 'the rich, the self-confident and the busy.'
The Spectator
'This is a wonderful book for anyone who enjoys visiting gardens and wishes to understand more of their history and development. It hits the perfect balance between being a large format volume, full of breathtaking photography by Andrew Lawson, and a scholarly work by one of our most respected garden writers.'
Birmingham Post
'The book is well planned and designed and the result is a delight. I found it riveting and read it right through at a gallop - then went back immediately and started all over again. it is many years since I read a book right through twice.'
Gardens Illustrated
'This is a book in the grand tradition of English garden writing....The author is even-handed and unprejudiced throughout, and her style direct, confident and perfectly at ease with the subject, if a little queenly at times...'
Kew Magazine
BACK TO THE GARDEN
'Will prove a pleasure to anyone who likes garden writing to be about more than just plants. Yet these are not just musings – everything is crisp and to the point . . . A reader will be left in no doubt that this writers is a bona fide garden nut . . . but her great talent is to make every column seem relevant.'
DAILY TELEGRAPH, 5TH December 2009
'Deeply informed' - FINANCIAL TIMES, 5th December 2009
'An engaging read – belonging to that antique genre that she herself calls “the chatty gardening book" …. Still a pleasure to read in the winter, especially in bed.'
EVENING STANDARD, 3rd December 2009
'I've always had trouble empathising with the 'grandes dames' of British gardening, with whom I probably have about as much in common as Beth Ditto has with Beth Chatto. Yet, something about the way Ursula Buchan writes makes me chuckle. Her knowledge, of course, is unassailable.'
BBC GARDENS ILLUSTRATED, September 2009
'The joys and otherwise of life and gardening.'
SAGA, September 2009
'Gardeners love to give advice: inspiring others is much harder. But that's what Ursula Buchan manages in this book of essays, as she leads us through the delights and humour of gardening. What better way to spend your mid-dig pause than with a page or two of Ms Buchan's company.'
WATERSTONE’S BOOKS QUARTERLY, October 2009
'Ursula manages to sweep us along and, in a rather gentle but persistent way, make us better gardeners.'
THE ENGLISH GARDEN, November 2009
'These pieces are so easy to read that it’s worth slowing down to take note – there is a wealth of information smuggled into them.'
HAM & HIGH, 26th November 2009
'Ursula Buchan's third collection of garden writing must be a candidate for someone's Christmas present. Short readable snippets about all sorts of topics from stress busting weeding and entering the village show, to potatoes - all eloquently wrapped up in amusing and witty style.'
OXFORD TIMES, 10th September 2009
