Paul Knowles

Amusing, but not nearly as much about gardens as I thought there would be. I kept thinking, yes this is fine but when is he going to get BACK TO THE GARDEN? He frequently, well sometimes, mentions gardens but very seldom, like almost never, describes them. In one episode he tells how he and his wife customarily ask for free admission at gardens because they are writers and will Put Your Garden In A Book and my first thought was, They’re getting most of those tickets under false pretences. He goes on a garden experts tour of England and we hear about how he tagged along to the BBC studio where Mark Cullen was doing a broadcast... and used the loo. Not a joke! There is a lot of mention of one garden that has statues of male nudes and we read in at least three separate essays that his wife inspected them thoroughly. When he gets home to his own garden and writes about that, it can be quite relatable. I loved the frog Mr Gunk. On the whole a pleasant collection of essays that I enjoyed reading and might have enjoyed more if they had more of a common theme.… (mehr)