I’ve been missing from this blog for some time, having been feeling none too well for several months and struggling to keep the various strands of business going. However, I’m now back and have recently been working on a web site dealing with one of my life-long passions – the English Lake District (to my mind the most beautiful corner of England). As we now live more than a hundred and fifty miles from the Cumbrian lakes, I thought of another substantial lake nearby – Rutland Water – so I’ve started to include something about lakes elsewhere in England and have given the site the name: “England’s Lakes“.

So what has this to do with gardening? Well, I thought that I was fairly up to date with books about the Lakes, but yesterday I came across one that I’d missed and as it’s relevant to this blog I thought it would provide a suitable subject for my return.

The title is, Gardens of the Lake District, by Tim Longville, published by Frances Lincoln, 2007 [ISBN: 0711227136] and it’s a book not to be missed. This beautiful region of the country, visited annually by hundreds of thousands from all over the world to see the lakes and mountains that so stimulated poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge contains some magnificent gardens, many of which open to the public.

If you’re visiting England from abroad, or live in another part of this country, make sure you plan a trip to the Lakes – and use this book to help decide which gardens you’re going to visit while there. If you can’t get there in person, then the book will transport you there from your armchair.

If you click on the book image above you’ll be taken Biblio, an international network of online book dealers and you can check out what they have available.

Until next time,

- David -

ps. Don’t forget to take a look at my new “England’s Lakes” site.