Beverley Nichols

An unusual gardening book that discusses flowers and gardens in a non-fictional novel format, telling the story of a deserted garden that is transformed into a paradise

Merry Hall

"Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the world's best-loved and most quoted gardening books. Ostensibly an account of the creation of a garden in Huntingdonshire in the 1930s, it is really about the underlying emotions and obsessions for which gardening is just a cover story. The secret of this book's success---and its timelessness---is that it does not seek to impress the reader with a wealth of expert knowledge or advice. Beverley Nichols proudly declares his status as a newcomer to gardening: "The best gardening books should be written by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckle's languid Latin name."As unforgettable as the plants in the garden are, the cast of visitors and neighbours who invariably turn up at inopportune moments are truly memorable. For every angelic Miss Hazlitt there is an insufferable Miss Wilkins waiting in the wings. For every thought-provoking Professor, there is an intrusive Mrs. M., whose chief offense may be that she is a "damnably efficient" gardener. From a disaster in building a rock garden---"It reminded me of those puddings made of spongecake and custard which are studded with almonds"---to a triumph in building an "avalanche" of chionodoxas---"Ah, but it was worth waiting for"---to further adventures with greenhouses, woodland gardens, not to mention cats and treacle, Nichols has left us a true gardening classic.

Down the Garden Path

No more delightful garden-related books have ever been written than Nichols' accounts of the rescue and renovation of Merry Hall, a run-down Georgian mansion and its garden.

Sunlight on the Lawn

Nichols distills 30 years of practical gardening experience in an entertaining fashion, perhaps to strike back at critics who whispered that he was not a "real gardener."

Garden Open Today

The Star Spangled Manner

A Novel

Prelude

A Play in 3 Acts

Shadow of the Vine

Some Recollections

All I Could Never be

With Drawings by William McLaren

A Play in Three Acts

Some Confessions from Childhood to the Outbreak of the Second World War

The Unforgiving Minute

Peggy Fortnum

The Mountain of Magic

No Place Like Home

A Case of Human Bondage

Cry Havoc!

The Sweet and Twenties

Beverley Nichols fans, armchair gardeners, and literature enthusiasts will delight in this reprint of the second book in his Allways trilogy, with facsimile reproductions of Rex Whistler's original graceful illustrations and a new foreword by Roy C. Dicks. Nichols' humorous ruminations on life in the countryside, as always, are refreshing. The typical Nichols gardening anecdotes and familiar characters are there, as well as the author's beloved dog, Whoops, an inveterate spy with a habit of leaping to conclusions.

A Thatched Roof

Anyone who has ever created a garden knows that it is a process replete with drama. For Beverley Nichols (1898 1983), making a new garden in a London suburb in the years just before World War II was positively operatic in its emotional trajectory."

The Story of a London Garden

Green Grows the City

Three unique cats shared a home with the late Beverley Nichols, who wrote dozens of books on topics ranging from politics to gardens. In this playful book, he muses on his feline companions' charms, proper care, and appreciation. 109 color drawings. 1 photo.

Beverley Nichols

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