BOOK REVIEWS

London's Parks & Gardens

Jill Billington
Photographs by Sandra Lousada
Frances Lincoln, distributed by Bookwise International
$NZ94.95

LONDON, city of seven million, is a drawcard to almost twice that number of overseas visitors each year. This dense metropolis maintains its essence and magnetism through its green spaces. London's 67 square miles of parks and gardens are the city's lungs.

This book takes the reader on a guided tour of 109 of these open spaces. Many of the squares and monumental gardens captured here will be familiar to Kiwis; less so some of the city's many smaller gems, like the delightful 4ha Avenue House Arboretum or Hall Place with its whimsical topiary of the Queen's beasts, looking for all the world like enormous teddy bears.

This is a pricey book, but for the gardening visitor or for anyone wanting a nostalgia tweak, it's a true keepsake. London's Parks & Gardens evokes the timelessness of Samuel Johnson's 18th century line: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH