He was passionate about gardens and gardening – and Down the Garden Path is the first book in a trilogy about that property – most especially the garden. The first volume of a trilogy about the author's time at Merry Hall, this book is more humorous garden writing than strict autobiography. This is a very nice site and your love of books, particularly as a physical entity, comes through very strongly.

Beverley Nichols' second and best-known trilogy forms a delightful chronicle of the enhancement of his Georgian manor house and gardens at Ashtead in Surrey. Yes, our snobbish gentleman gardener's racism and misogyny peek through, but I forgave and enjoyed my weekend stay in the Georgian country house with this Englishman, his cats and the ghost of Mr. Whenever I’ve asked about for recommendations of good gardening books, Nichols is invariably mentioned, either for the Merry Hall trilogy or the earlier Down the Garden Path, both semi-fictional chronicles of his gardening efforts at his homes. I was very curious to read them, as I love the acidic style of writing of Mr Nichols, and he does not disappoint. He’ll have to battle against the elements, the locals (Miss Emily and Our Rose), Oldfield and the ghosts of the previous owners, the Stebbings.As an enthusiastic Downton Abbey fan and all things English, I'm not surprised I found Merry Hall humorous and entertaining. He’s obviously an obsessive gardener and when he stumbles across the house of the title he’s instantly smitten, despite the fact that there is an incredible amount of work which needs doing on both house and garden. He often visits Crowther’s, a real purveyor then and now of garden ornaments, and mentions enough other ac

What makes this book endearing is his obvious love for gardening and the way he describes his experiences in a humorous way. Hardbacks; red, green, and blue cloth bound-boards, backed with white cloth and matching title-label to spine, dust jackets.Though I don’t think this in any way matters; they are funny and charming and Nichols never let pesky reality get in the way of being funny and charming! Along the way we meet Oldfield, the very talented but taciturn and somewhat difficult gardener; Gaskin, the long-standing and nearly superhuman manservant; Miss Emily and Our Rose, nosy and perpetually disapproving neighbors; and the beloved cats One and Four.