Herterton House And a New Country Garden

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Description

Frank and Marjorie Lawley have spent almost 40 years at Herterton House, a 16th century farmhouse on the Wallington Estate, near Cambo (birthplace of Capability Brown) in Northumberland. When they leased Herterton from the National Trust in 1976, the Lawleys took on a series of derelict farm buildings. This highly original and personal book describes in detail how, with patience and passion, they restored Herterton House and created an exquisite and unique garden. As well as discussing the practicalities involved, it also describes the influences and the lifetime of thinking behind their achievement. Within its mere acre, the garden at Herterton House provides more visual interest and more interesting plants (plants you can also buy from its small nursery) than many gardens twenty times its size. It also stimulates visitors to think about what plants to use and how to use them, about the history of English gardens, about the relation of the past to the present and about the relation of a garden to the landscape around it. This book records and celebrates Frank and Marjorie's achievement over four decades at Herterton House. With photographs by Val Corbett and an introduction by Charles Quest-Ritson.

Reviews

Reviews of the house and gardens at Herterton: "Heavenly in a way which I have not seen elsewhere in England." - Robin Lane-Fox "Herterton is one of the most influential English gardens to be created since the end of World War II." - Daily Telegraph "A living work of art in a one-acre plot." - Sunday Times "A masterpiece of patient brilliance that sums up the artists' vision. the best of British gardening in the past 30 years." - Financial Times

Author Bio

Frank Lawley was born in Bloxwich, Staffordshire and has been known as Frank for over sixty years. Frank and his wife Marjorie have spent the past four decades rescuing Herterton House near Wallington, a long-abandoned sixteenth century farmhouse, and designing, creating and maintaining around it a new but appropriate country garden. Val Corbett is a freelance photographer based in the Lowther Valley on the eastern fringe of the Lake District. She is well known for her garden and landscape photography which has featured in many books and magazines. Charles Quest-Ritson is a UK-based writer and journalist specialising in horticulture and social history.