You don't have to be a gardener to appreciate gardens. Besides the beauty of the colours, scents and shapes of plants, gardens reflect the landscape and history of the country. In this National Trust book, the best British gardens are explored under the theme of 'inspiration and escapism', but they are much more than this.

The book is organised by six chapters with the focus being on walled gardens, history, features such as hills, woods and water that 'fuse' with gardens and contemporary creations. It shows how formal gardens have been inspired European styles and how the planting represents the practicalities of sustenance fruit, vegetable and herb growing in contrast to the fashionable and sensual flower gardens. At the end is a list of gardens to visit, complete with addresses and website information.

This is a joyful book, spiritual at times, that discusses designs and designers, the choice of plants and planting as well as the locations' significance. Most of the gardens are naturally attached to stately homes or castles, and there are interesting facts included. Easy to read, this book will appeal to everyone who likes nature and being in it. The stunning full colour photography is a little bit of heaven in its own right.

Essentially though, this is ia book for gardeners or folk who love gardens. The plants are the stars and the story is about them. The history of the development of collections and the little details about the flora really do make this a guide to Britain's Garden Heaven. With a good hardback format this is a delightful book to keep at hand for those days when you need a bit of inspiration or escapism.

Highlights of National Trust Gardens . A charming and readable book covering the best of the National Trust gardens. It brought back happy memories of visiting these gardens with my Mum, especially Mottisfont and Great Dixter. As the author says, garden visiting is one of life's great pleasures.

From those who need inspiration for their garden to those who are looking for gardens to visit, this book is bound to win the hearts many different audiences. All National Trust gardens included in the book are described with beautiful and informative prose, and historical facts and recent pictures of the gardens are also made available. A worthy tribute to the beautiful gardens in the UK. It was lovely to see Mount Stewart included, and I made a ‘to visit’ list after seeing the other amazing gardens covered in this book.

The perfect book to help the non gardener (me) to plan the garden at my new house. A beautiful book full of ideas and inspiration.

As a keen gardener, this was a real treat to read! It's full of glorious gardens to inspire and aspire to!

Vanessa takes us on a tour of 32 National Trust gardens, from the most well known to the lesser known and gives us a brief history of them all alongside her thoughts and memories of them. It was fascinating to hear the different stories behind them all and how many of them use different approaches to gardening within them.

All types of gardens are featured from walled gardens, historic to contemporary and the photography really shows off their best features! It gives you information on the types of plants used within each garden and the different conditions they face, so you can use the inspiration in your own gardens, plus giving you details of new gardens to go and visit on your journeys around the United Kingdom!

A lovely book to look at and learn from!

Loved seeing all the pictures of gardens around UK. It felt like traveling in the UK but in the same time enjoying some in private gardens. It made me dream of my future garden. It was an enjoyable read.

Garden Heaven is a beautiful book, full of information on a host of gardens to visit in the Uk. The book has lots of lovely photographs to illustrate the gardens which it talks about. I enjoyed reading about each garden, what the highlights were and the history of the garden and the people who were involved in the design and layouts.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and now have plans to visit several of these gardens that I hadn’t thought about before. This is definitely a book that I will be buying as a gift for family and friends.

Vanessa Berridge’s Garden Heaven is gorgeous, there’s no other word that will do. It contains short pieces on 32 gardens, scattered around the UK, illustrated with lovely, lovely colour photographs. We’re told a little bit about each garden’s history – owners and head gardeners; about planting, both historic and current; and a wander through the garden is described in lush prose such as “Evergreen shrubs blend with black elder, tall silvery cardoons, roses, herbaceous perennials, grasses and self-seeded umbellifers and poppies.”.

I’m not a gardener. In fact, my only interest in visiting gardens tends to be whether they serve cheese scones in the café and how big those scones are (it’s a real scone if you can slice it into three layers); together with a hope that there will be real coffee. However, even I really enjoyed this book, reading it in bed on a dark February night with the rain lashing down outside. The beautiful pictures and the highly descriptive prose (by someone who obviously really knows her plants) transported me to warm summer days, ambling around scented, colourful, sunny gardens.

Apart from being transported on a dark winter evening, this would be a very useful book for reference prior to visiting an area. Certainly, the next time we’re off on a road trip, I’ll consult the book and suggest a diversion or two – and I won’t even be disappointed if there are no cheese scones or coffee.


#GardenHeaven #NetGalley

Vanessa Berridge takes the reader on a tour of 32 National Trust gardens across the British Isles. She gives a brief history of each garden and describes the main features of each, including information on plants. There are plenty of photographs of each garden, and the planting schemes. As well as providing ideas on gardens to visit, the book also provides ideas about plants for your own garden. A very enjoyable read, especially in winter when gardening - and garden visiting - is limited. Thanks to the publisher for an advance review copy.

A really beautiful book to browse through, showing some of the best gardens in Britain. This would be lovely to have to look for inspiration when you are looking for somewhere to visit, with some beautiful photographs and interesting background information, or just to relax and unwind and enjoy the beauty.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

There are so many beautiful gardens shown here and this would be a great gift for anyone interested in gardening,

This was a lovely book for a gardener longing for Spring to read in the depths of Winter. The gardens are beautifully described and accompanied by gorgeous photos so that I felt I had walked them myself. I’ve added many to my future visit wishlist. My only gripe is that Beth Chattos garden was missing but that’s probably me being a biased Essex girl!

Thank you Netgalley, Vanessa Berridge and Collins for this ARC.

A lovely insightful look into 32 gardens, well written and accompanied with detailed photographs. A perfect coffee table volume.

Garden Heaven is a delightful exploration of the amazing gardens scattered across the country. It's surprising how many hidden gems are out there! After reading this, I've made a mental note to visit one in East Sussex with my family this summer. It's a fantastic pocket guide for anyone keen on discovering the outdoors, learning about new plants, and soaking up some history along the way.

I received a free copy of, Garden Heaven, by Vanessa Berridge, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. If you love beautiful gardens, this book is for you. Photos of gardens all over Britain are shown in this great book.