With text by George Plumptre, preface by Joe Swift and Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales Island Hall is in good company in the new NGS hardback recently published by Merrell. Available now on Amazon!
“Christopher Vane Percy’s idea for this green garden is that it be idyllic and “a bit fluffy”, but there little fluffy about it. Instead, it is a designer’s garden par excellence, every bit of it is so right as to see, inevitable. It could be a high-street garden if Buckingham Palace could be described as a town garden – but Island Hall is better.” Leslie Geddes-Brown
In England, gardening and garden-visiting are national obsessions. More than 80 years ago, the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) was founded with the aim of raising money for charity by opening gardens of quality and interest to the public. In the first year, some 600 gardens were opened. Today, over 3700 gardens – many of them privately owned and opened for just a few days each year – are listed in The Yellow Book, the annual guide published by the NGS. The Gardens of England gives you the opportunity to enjoy 50 of the country’s greatest garden gems from the comfort of your armchair. Each of the five chapters is written by a different leading gardens expert, and surveys 10 gardens opened as part of the NGS during a particular period. George Plumptre, head of the NGS, provides an engaging introduction on garden-visiting, and 12 well-known gardeners offer a personal account of their favourite NGS garden. Featuring established and new gardens of all styles, this is a book that no lover of the English garden should be without.
In England, gardening and garden visiting are national obsessions. The National Gardens Scheme was founded in 1927 with the aim of raising money for charity by opening gardens of quality and interest to the public. From 600 gardens that opened in the Scheme’s first year, the ranks have swelled to nearly 4000 today, many of them privately owned and opened for just a few days each year.
Island Hall is one of the fifty ‘Treasures’ from the schemes gardens to be showcased in The Gardens of England,
The book is a celebration of more than eighty years of Garden visiting through the National Gardens Scheme. This selection of the best gardens, represent of all styles, both public and private that participate in the scheme.’
Island Hall, which celebrates 20 years of opening under the scheme, is the home of Christopher and Lady Linda Vane Percy, Christopher, a past president of the British Institute of Interior design, and Regional Chairman of The Historic Houses Association, started to plan and lay out the gardens at Island Hall in the early 80’, having reclaimed is his ancestral home in 1983
A charity garden opening at Island Hall, with a plant sale and Craft Market, in aid of the Red Cross will take place on Sunday 14th July in aid of the British Red Cross from 12pm to 4.30pm.
The Gardens of England, with a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales, gives you the opportunity to enjoy fifty of the country’s garden gems from the comfort of your armchair. Each chapter is written by a different leading gardens expert, and surveys ten gardens opened for the NGS during a particular period. The celebrated gardens writer George Plumptre, Chief Executive of the NGS, provides and engaging introduction on the tradition of garden visiting, and well known personalities, from Mary Berry to Alan Titchmarsh, offer their own thoughts on the NGS.
Island Hall Blog 