THE FOLIO SOCIETY

Having bought a Huntingdonshire cottage on a whim, Beverley Nichols began transforming its ramshackle garden with just a rudimentary grasp of horticulture to guide him. His friend Noel Coward observed that ‘amateurs have no fear’, and indeed Nichols learned as he went along, meeting each setback with blind faith and sheer bloody-mindedness. An instant bestseller when first published in 1932; Down the Garden Path is Nichols’s self deprecating and wistfully funny account of his experiences. Captured here are moments of despair and ecstasy any amateur gardener will recognise: the rock garden that ends up looking like ‘those puddings made of sponge cake and custard which are studded in almonds’; the heart-lifting sight of the first shoots of greenhouse cyclamen on a wet winter’s day. Down the Garden Path is a delightful cross between P. G. Wodehouse and Cold Comfort Farm, mixed with insights worthy of Gardeners’ Question Time. This new hardback edition includes the delightful Rex Whistler illustrations from the original edition.