Barbara Segall

The 22 gardens selected for Secret Gardens of East Anglia celebrate the culture, beauty and diversity of the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex, and all deserve to be better known. The big skies and the extraordinary light of East Anglia make it unlike anywhere else in Britain, and offer the most amazing natural conditions in which to create gardens. Introduced by eminent East Anglian plantswoman Beth Chatto, the gardens appearing on these pages are brought to life by the award-winning author and photographer team of Barbara Segall and Marcus Harpur. From each garden we can learn about the creator’s style, their talent for exploiting the genius loci, and the specific challenges and rewards they have encountered. Featured gardens include: Columbine Hall – a moated garden with a series of green rooms Helmingham Hall Gardens – a gem of a garden hidden in its own moated island Kirtling Tower – a field of daffodils for a Tudor gatehouse Raveningham Hall – exquisite planting in the RHS president’s private garden The Manor House, Fenstanton – garden rooms on Capability Brown’s private estate Ulting Wick – thousands of tulips against a backdrop of black wooden barns Winterton Lighthouse – a lush yet restrained garden framing a lighthouse Wyken Hall – vines and roses around an Elizabethan manor house Tour even more magnificent English gardens with Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds and Secret Gardens of Somerset.

A tour of some of the UK’s most beguiling gardens in the counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, the counties that exemplify ‘the garden of England’. In these three counties a wealth of history and horticulture has combined with geography in the shape of rolling landscapes, wooded valleys and meandering waterways, to provide an attractive and fascinating collection. They are in villages and towns, as well as in deep countryside, and all are privately owned. Some have been in the possession of the same family for many generations, while others have recently been transformed by new owners. Some open for the National Garden Scheme, while others are open privately and in some cases for just the occasional day for charity. The stunning gardens explored in this visually rich guide include: Arundel Castle, Denmans, Gravetye Manor, Munstead Wood and Sussex Prairie Garden. The book also includes a gazetteer of other important gardens in the area with location advice, to enable readers to plan a more elaborate tour of this fertile garden area. Filled with stunning, specially commissioned photographs by Clive Boursnell, Secret Gardens of the South East is a unique guide that opens the gates to the most intriguing gardens in this part of England.

First published in 1942 (and retailing at 1s 6d) in response to the growing use of factory-made foods and essences, Wild Berries, Fruits, Nuts & Flowers demonstrated how tasty dishes could be made using the wild fruits and flowers of the countryside. Today there is a growing interest in foraging. People have become more connected with nature and are heading into the countryside and collecting edible plants, mushrooms and fruits. This is combined with an increasing desire to eat local seasonal produce in the interests of sustainability. This timely reissue of a classic of its kind is the perfect gift for the modern forager. It features 101 recipes for using wild berries, fruits, nuts, flowers, mushrooms and seaweed. Nothing is known about the original author, but this edition has a foreword by Barbara Segall, who suggested republishing this book.