Absolutely one of my favorite books of the year! Spectacular photographs and descriptions of "cottage gardens" in many different countries. I (along with my wife) are avid gardeners. This book describes our theory and practices to a "T'. The style is perfectly described as "no formal lines, rigid rules, or perfect spacing in the cottage garden. Instead, the form is organic and purposefully unstructured". That's us! What some people we know call a "mess", we try to point out the well thought out theory and structure that we are using.
The author has really touched the two of us with this book. Knowing that there are others (many, and famous at that) who have cottage gardens reaffirms what we are doing.
This is an absolutely incredible book! Even if you don't like gardening, you will absolutely be enthralled with the photos in this book. I highly recommend it. In fact, we are pre-ordering several copies of the book ourselves. One (maybe two, because it will quickly become worn from reading and re-reading it), plus a couple of others for our gardening friends for Christmas gifts! ( )