Down the Garden Path

From the distance of many decades, this amazing book has the power to amuse as well as giving insights into a long gone way of gardening. Well, perhaps in Britain there are still gardeners like Beverly Nichols. I admire immensely his passion for the garden and his ability to experiment and to do things in ways that went against the grain of his neighbors. Many times as I savored this book, I was moved to laugh out loud and read bits to other. This is not a typical gardening memoir by any means, it is an outrageous presentation of the gardening passion. His critiques of women are from the fine art of caricature, probably fictional and meant to record his view of a type of gardener. It needs to be read with awareness of the year and social class and society he says living and writing in. I am so glad Timber Press has done this reprint, as he deserves to be read here in the 21st century.

Before all the uncritical admirers of this book become indignant, let me state that the reason I bought this volume and its sequel, is that I read the author's superb "Merry Hall" trilogy and loved all three books. In fact, I read them no less than THREE TIMES! After years of reading glowing reviews of this trilogy, I bought the first two volumes and settled down for a good read. What a disappointment! I could barely force my self to finish reading them. The difference between the two trilogies is about 20 years of the author maturing into a writer wise enough to--most of the time--hide his attitude of superiority over, and contempt for, anyone not born into an upper class family, surrounded by servants and privilege. This book, which begins the earlier trilogy, is a young man's self indulgent exercise in narcissism. He makes almost no effort to hide his racist, misogynist, and class prejudices. His characters are not well developed--nor likable--because he is concentrated wholly on himself and the wonders he finds there. Unlike the later trilogy, in which he develops much more likable characters, and does it with such humor and talent that one comes to the end of each book feeling that one has really gotten to know and love the folks who people his gentrified world, this book just leaves one annoyed at his shallow carricatures of people--most of whom he obviously considers beneath him. I'd recommend that anyone interested in reading the works of Mr. Nichols skip these early ramblings and go straight to the supremely delightful "Merry Hall" trilogy. Even there you will find his general disdain for women peeking through, but in a much gentler, less harsh and acidic way than in this book.

The book is in excellent condition and it arrived quickly with a personal note. Highly recommend!

This man was not a fan of women, and his characterizations of females in this book soured me on his prose, so I struggled to finish it.The gardening sections were fairly interesting, although he also has verysubjective opinions on plants.Edited-a year later: this old goat must have something because now I have read both of his house trilogies and and excellent bio of him. He must have been fun to hang out with as long as you agreed with him!

An early 20th century classic book about an amateur gardener, Beverley Nichols, and his creation. The book wasn't available in my local library and is out of print so it was great to find it through amazon.

a delightful story of a man & his garden in days when time was a little more leisurely but I felt it tailed off a little toward the end but is a classic of it's day. I was glad to be able to procure a copy

I left it in the seat pocket of a plane going to Mexico but i enjoyed the first three chapters I read. will order it again.

He is a superb and hilarious writer and a GARDENER as well.

when my wife was young she read a lot but many books got damaged by water some years ago.We thought they were lost for ever but NO Amazing Amazon has found them all.Well nearly

I am a keen gardener. I found this book very dated, and boring. in fact, I haven't managed to finish it. Very disappointed.

Of its period, a gentle, entertaining, well-observed and slightly bitchy work. Not for everyone, perhaps, but there are times when I want an unexacting read, and Beverley Nicholls fits the bill very well. His books can be read in chapters, making them perfect for a bedtime read.

Excellent book which i am in the throes of reading --Brilliant so far and agree with the comments that I would love this book

Lovely to read again thanks JNR