Up the Garden Path

by Norman Thelwell

The perfect gift for any gardener who has experienced overbearing neighbours, the pains of building a water feature, unruly indoor plants, and the battle to dig the lawnmower out from the shed. Norman Thelwell was a keen observer of the foibles of the British at work and play. He is best known for his small, round and hairy ponies and their small, equally round little girl owners.

Genres: Humor, Cartoon, Nonfiction, Comics, Comedy

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Norman Thelwell was an English cartoonist well-known for his humorous illustrations of ponies and horses. A promising young student from Liverpool College of Art, he soon became a contributor to the satirical magazine Punch in the 1950s, and earned many lasting devotees by illustrating Chicko in the British boys' comic Eagle.

Known to many only as Thelwell, he found his true comic niche with Pony Club girls and ponies refusing fences, a subject for which he became best-known. His cartoons and drawings delighted millions.

For the last quarter of a century of his life he lived in the Test Valley at Timsbury, near Romsey, gradually restoring a farm house and landscaping the grounds which gave rise to his first factual book, A Plank Bridge by a Pool, which detailed the first two lakes he dug there. A third lake was later featured on the BBC’s South Today programme. Written much earlier, but published three years later, A Millstone Round My Neck described his experiences in re-building a Cornish water mill (Addicroft Mill at Liskeard, which he called Penruin), that was sold before the book was published. He always loved old buildings, and in his auto-biography, Wrestling with a Pencil wrote about his joy in the beauty of old cottages.

Reviews

[Shabbeer Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time in a garden far away, young Shabbeer decided to plant few orchids, cacti and tomatoes in a tiny garden under a glaring sun and as all such misadventures go, even Obiwan Kenobi couldn't rescue them. He watched the plants wither and die with the distinct realization that from their ashes weeds would grow fulfilling my wish for a garden, albeit with a "different" set of plants. Thelwell captures all trials and tribulations of a frustrated gardener quite well in this volume with some damn funny puns thrown in for good measure.

My Rating - 4/5

[Anna Hepworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

As ever, Thelwell's eye for the ridiculous, playing with language, and summarising the many frustrations of a given hobby are on point. The book itself has dated both well and poorly. Gardening itself has only changed superficially, but some of the interactions between individuals was just a bit off.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thelwell is excellent. Illustrations are equally as funny and never a disappointment.

[^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

From technical terms to garden talk; from friends & neighbours to making a splash, the guidance of a Latin primer, indoor plants, and a gardeners calendar; the cartoons in this book are this book are particularly well expressed. Page 42 shows a man, home from work, holding up next-door’s startled bunny by its ears. The said rabbit has eaten his newly sown radishes. On the opposing page he’s barbecuing the rabbit, under the caption, “But don’t be vindictive”!

[Valerie]

I don't remember for sure, but I think this is the one with the meaning of several names. The one I remember best shows a little boy whispering into the ear of a garden gnome: an illustration of the meaning of 'Alfred'.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tongue in cheek cartoon guide covers all aspects of gardening, from how to make a hole in the frozen fish pond to how to get your mower out of the shed, and includes a calendar of essential work throughout the year.