‘This is a book about the comfort and sustenance that can be got from gardening and from the earth, about the wonderful pleasures and fulfilment that I get from my garden.’ Alice Taylor

Alice’s garden is her refuge, her solace. In this book, she invites you into this special place. Inherited from Uncle Jacky, it was for many years a kind of wilderness, until Alice finally managed to get around to transforming it. She introduces you to the great variety of plants and objects she has gathered – everything, of course, with its own unique and fascinating story, brought to life by a master storyteller. Alice’s creativity is seen everywhere in her garden. It is a wonderful, magical space, full of surprises, where her warm personality infuses every flower, bush, tree, and surface.

very readable

poetical, beautifully descriptive … delightful read

definitely one to read with a cup of tea in your own garden

reading Alice is like being pushed in the small of the back off a rock into a deep warm pool … she gives one the exhilaration of being in the presence of a real writer and her skill is so accomplished that it appears effortless

a wonderful easy read, one that would make a delightful Christmas present

reflective and uplifting

a book that’s destined to blossom

warm and human ... easy, friendly and charming

the joy of gardening unearthed by Alice

will provide restful reflection for many

uplifting … beautiful

A poetical, beautifully descriptive book by best-selling Irish author Alice Taylor will take you to a garden that was left to her, a wilderness that remained so for many years. When she finally began to transform it, through trial and error she found more than satisfaction at the changes taking place, but refuge and solace there. Her love of nature comes through, as does the sense of community … This book has plenty of evocative photographs, but it is the lyrical writing that will keep you turning the page. Not a professional gardener, nor a tidy one by her own admission, Alice is a story teller writing about the plants and the people she loves, making this a delightful read

Alice Taylor lives in the village of Innishannon in County Cork, in a house attached to the local supermarket and post office. Her first book, To School Through the Fields, was published in 1988. It was an immediate success and quickly became the biggest selling book ever published in Ireland. Alice has written nearly twenty books since then, largely exploring her beloved village and the ways of life in rural Ireland. She has also written poetry and fiction: her first novel, The Woman of the House, was an immediate bestseller. Most recently, she wrote a children's picture book with her daughter Lena Angland, called Ellie and the Fairy Door.