What do you think?
Il nostro giardino sentimentale
In questo libro, impreziosito dalle illustrazioni di Charles Robinson, si respira appieno la tradizione estetica dell'epoca vittoriana. I due autori ci narrano della loro casa, soprannominata all'italiana "villino", un luogo del cuore, un nido di pace e d'amore che durante la Prima guerra mondiale venne trasformata in ricovero per soldati feriti e donne sole. Ma se da una parte il ricordo di quel giardino ameno, della cura per le piante, del passaggio delle stagioni, della brughiera circostante si fa malinconico, dall'altra è stato lo strumento più efficace per superare gli orrori che furono compiuti in uno dei periodi più bui della nostra storia.
278 pages, Paperback
First published June 28, 2008
About the author
Agnes Castle
96 books1 followerBorn Agnes Sweetman.
She and her husband Egerton Castle wrote many of their books together. Her sisters Elinor Sweetman and M.E. Francis were also writers.
She and her husband Egerton Castle wrote many of their books together. Her sisters Elinor Sweetman and M.E. Francis were also writers.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 19, 2023
Feb 18, 620pm ~~ Review asap.
920pm ~~ I chose this book hoping to spend a little time with an author who would understand what it feels like to wonder in the last few weeks of winter weather about how the garden will behave in Spring.
Not that I have a garden, at least not the kind Mr. Castle and his wife write about in this book. They had a country house in Surrey England. The size of the place is never detailed, but there must of been plenty of space to play with: once he mentions 2000 narcissus bulbs, another time they plan to 'invest in three or four thousand Daffodils for the rough places under the trees." My favorite proof of having what I could only call a Real Garden was one bulb order Egerton Castle shared with his readers. I won't list each type of flower but the order I am thinking of tallied up to just under 10,000 bulbs. With another 1600 from a competing supplier! That second order requested 1000 daffodils. I cannot even imagine so many, let alone figure out where they could go in a yard like mine. lol
I enjoyed most of this book, the author could be delightful. I didn't know some of the plants he mentioned, so I had to look them up whenever I wanted to have a better mental picture, such as when he described a secluded little area this way:
"With the Brooms, white and yellow; with the pink foam of the Floribunda trees, the incomparable gold and green of the Beech and Birch, one wants to put one’s arms round the little place and kiss it."
I was tickled by the way Castle felt that gardening on a large scale was 'horticultural government' rather than gardening. For me, Castle and his gardener (who lived in a cottage on the property) had a pretty large scale. But he was thinking of the Duke of Devonshire and his seventy gardeners. Yes, 70!
Even though Castle admits freely that he did not have the knowledge or talent to plan a landscape, he did say that clearing brush was his specialty. So he enjoyed getting out and getting dirt under his fingernails, something I can identify with and I bet that old Duke never could!
As much as I had fun with the chapters about the actual gardens, and even the ones about the 'fur children' of the house, I was sometimes impatient with the rambles the author went through. I skimmed chapters that talked about his childhood, and when his wife contributed her memories of growing up in Ireland, I confess to skimming those also. I was in the mood for garden thoughts, not sidetracks here and there, although I imagine I would be able to read those skimmed chapters more closely at some different point in my own gardening timetable when I am not so hungry for dirt and green things. This is why I rated it three stars and not four. It's me, not the book.
This book was published in 1914. It had been written before the War began, but apparently sometime between completion and publishing the world fell apart. There is a preface dated September 1914 that explains this, and says the authors hope that reading their little book will help others get through rough days. And he says that the house will soon be used as a rest home for wounded soldiers and a refuge for women and children refugees from Belgium. Castle and his wife wrote another book about that first year of the war, and I have already started reading it.
920pm ~~ I chose this book hoping to spend a little time with an author who would understand what it feels like to wonder in the last few weeks of winter weather about how the garden will behave in Spring.
Not that I have a garden, at least not the kind Mr. Castle and his wife write about in this book. They had a country house in Surrey England. The size of the place is never detailed, but there must of been plenty of space to play with: once he mentions 2000 narcissus bulbs, another time they plan to 'invest in three or four thousand Daffodils for the rough places under the trees." My favorite proof of having what I could only call a Real Garden was one bulb order Egerton Castle shared with his readers. I won't list each type of flower but the order I am thinking of tallied up to just under 10,000 bulbs. With another 1600 from a competing supplier! That second order requested 1000 daffodils. I cannot even imagine so many, let alone figure out where they could go in a yard like mine. lol
I enjoyed most of this book, the author could be delightful. I didn't know some of the plants he mentioned, so I had to look them up whenever I wanted to have a better mental picture, such as when he described a secluded little area this way:
"With the Brooms, white and yellow; with the pink foam of the Floribunda trees, the incomparable gold and green of the Beech and Birch, one wants to put one’s arms round the little place and kiss it."
I was tickled by the way Castle felt that gardening on a large scale was 'horticultural government' rather than gardening. For me, Castle and his gardener (who lived in a cottage on the property) had a pretty large scale. But he was thinking of the Duke of Devonshire and his seventy gardeners. Yes, 70!
Even though Castle admits freely that he did not have the knowledge or talent to plan a landscape, he did say that clearing brush was his specialty. So he enjoyed getting out and getting dirt under his fingernails, something I can identify with and I bet that old Duke never could!
As much as I had fun with the chapters about the actual gardens, and even the ones about the 'fur children' of the house, I was sometimes impatient with the rambles the author went through. I skimmed chapters that talked about his childhood, and when his wife contributed her memories of growing up in Ireland, I confess to skimming those also. I was in the mood for garden thoughts, not sidetracks here and there, although I imagine I would be able to read those skimmed chapters more closely at some different point in my own gardening timetable when I am not so hungry for dirt and green things. This is why I rated it three stars and not four. It's me, not the book.
This book was published in 1914. It had been written before the War began, but apparently sometime between completion and publishing the world fell apart. There is a preface dated September 1914 that explains this, and says the authors hope that reading their little book will help others get through rough days. And he says that the house will soon be used as a rest home for wounded soldiers and a refuge for women and children refugees from Belgium. Castle and his wife wrote another book about that first year of the war, and I have already started reading it.
January 29, 2024
"Mai un racconto trascurabile iniziò così a cuor leggero come questa nostra cronaca di oziosi ricordi; eppure è solo ora, sotto una minaccia incombente di guerra, morte e sofferenza che la vediamo concretizzarsi nella sua forma definitiva".
Un giardino che sembra irreale luogo di pace, la luce dorata dell'aurora, il coro sommesso del vento, tutto traspare dai preziosi disegni di Charles Robinson che arricchiscono il libro anche se, purtroppo, sono state pubblicate in bianco e nero.
Un giardino che sembra irreale luogo di pace, la luce dorata dell'aurora, il coro sommesso del vento, tutto traspare dai preziosi disegni di Charles Robinson che arricchiscono il libro anche se, purtroppo, sono state pubblicate in bianco e nero.
Read
January 22, 2021I live in the house described in this book. A lovely old Edwardian house in the Surrey Hills, full of character, and am currently compiling a history of the house. Many original features remain (the drawings - by an eminent illustrator of the day - depict interiors very similar to today although the garden is much changed and the moors are now wooded) and it was interesting to learn about life in the house over a hundred years before. The authors (Agnes and her husband, Egerton) wrote 4 books about the house which have been very good reference sources.
The language is rather overblown and antiquated, and their life was undoubtedly privileged, but their account here of life in ‘our’ house was particularly fascinating for me.
The language is rather overblown and antiquated, and their life was undoubtedly privileged, but their account here of life in ‘our’ house was particularly fascinating for me.
August 12, 2022
È un libro di sensazioni e basta. Mi aspettavo di più.
Want to Read
November 3, 2011Brought this one home from Grandma's house because it had gorgeous color illustrations and an inscription that it belonged to my Great Great Grandmother and was a gift from her uncle. That was enough to hang on to it, but I hadn't really expected to enjoy it as much as I am so far. The descriptions of the animals and life at the "villetta" are charming!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews