The Gardens of Portugal
By Helena Attlee Photographs by John Ferro Sims
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Online price: £30.00
This title is currently availableHardback, 176pp Published: 2nd June 2008 Category: Gardens & parks, Travel & places  |
Some of us have been waiting a long time for a good, up-to-date book on Portuguese gardens, and here it is at last. Helena Atlee's text is a lively balance of historical information and telling anecdotes, somewhat lighter in tone than her book on Italian gardens of a few years ago. Photographer John Ferro Sims makes the most of those gardens that are well looked after, and is kind and clever when it comes to those (ana alarmingly high proportion) which are a little ragged round the edges. - Daily Telegraph
This is an excellent book: it will be the standard English work on Portuguese gardens for many years to come. - BBC Gardens Illustrated
This book will contribute to getting Portugal on the garden map and I hope it will prompt someone in that country to take up garden history. - Country Life
If you want a modern account of the gardens of Portugal this is not the book for you, but lovers of magical realism will be riveted.
- House & Garden
This is a handsome coffee table volume that offers a great glimpse into the tranquil places that can be found throughout the country. - Portugal magazine
Attlee writes elegantly and informatively, moving from history to anecdote to camellia culture with ease. - Sunday Telegraph
The gardens of Portugal are among the most cosmopolitan in the world. The product of Portugal's long seafaring history, they bring together ideas from East and West in a style that is, in both design and planting, confident, flamboyant, exotic, and distinctly Portuguese. In the golden age of Portuguese exploration the glazed tiles and distinctive water tanks of the Moorish style were combined with the open loggias and box parterres of the Italian Renaissance, and gardens were decorated with statues and reliefs of dolphins, sea horses, anchors and other maritime motifs. From China, Japan, Africa, Australia and the Americas, Portugal's seafarers brought new seeds and plants such as camellias and rhododendrons that flourished in the mild climate.
This book describes some twenty-eight gardens, stunningly photographed by John Ferro Sims.
176 pages
