GARDENS OF THE NATIONAL TRUST

When the National Trust decided to take on the care of gardens, the aim wasthat these would be the very best of their kind in England, Wales andNorthern Ireland. The Trust now has the finest collection of gardens everassembled under one ownership - the greatest in number, diversity,historic importance and quality. Taken together they contain the world'smost important collection of cultivated plants, distinguished for theirbeauty, rarity, historical interest and scientific value. First publishedin 1996, this new edition has been substantially revised to showcasesuperb new photography, and to introduce recently acquired properties suchas Greenway in Devon and the gardens of houses such as Red House in Kentand Tyntesfield in Somerset. Stephen Lacey paints a vivid picture ofindividual Trust gardens through historical and horticulturalperspectives. He gives his personal take, describing the present state ofeach and placing it firmly within the context of gardening history inBritain. All the major periods are represented: a knot garden from a 1640design at Moseley Old Hall in Staffordshire; magnificenteighteenth-century landscapes such as 'Capability' Brown's at Petworth inSussex; Victorian Gardens like Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire, with itswealth of new plants introduced from all over the world; and the famousplantsmen's gardens of the last century, such as Nymans in Sussex,Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, and Hidcote in Gloucestershire.