Borde Hill Garden: A Plant Hunter's Paradise

Borde Hill Garden is set in historic parkland in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in West Sussex. The Elizabethan mansion was purchased in 1893 by Colonel Stephenson Robert Clarke (known as Stephie), who set about creating the garden and woodlands using plants from several continents brought back to England by the great plant hunters of the early 1900s. Well over a century and three generations later, Borde Hill remains in the ownership of the Stephenson Clarke family, and today is renowned for its collection of rare shrubs and trees. This beautiful new book – the first dedicated to Borde Hill – is structured in two main parts. For the first, ‘The History’, Vanessa Berridge has had exclusive access to the Borde Hill archive, which contains not only family photographs but also a wealth of written sources, such as letters between Stephie and nurserymen, directors of botanical gardens, other landowners, and plant hunters. Giving unique insight into the horticultural world and social history of the interwar years, this fascinating correspondence reveals acts of courage by such famed plant explorers as Ernest Wilson and George Forrest and the professional level of accomplishment of Stephie and his gardening acquaintances. The second part of the book takes the reader on an extended tour of the garden, illustrated by the glorious photography of John Glover. The garden is exceptional in its variety, featuring as it does formal gardens around the house, wide lawns flowing out into the countryside, many plant species found nowhere else in Britain, and woods with one of the country’s largest privately owned collections of rare trees. Concluding with information on Borde Hill’s historic plants, its many RHS Awards of Merit and its champion trees, this authoritative, engaging book is a fitting celebration of one of Britain’s great heritage gardens.