A Guide to Medieval Gardens is an inspiring memoir and historical retrospective about garden design by Michael Brown. Due out 30th March 2022 from Pen & Sword on their White Owl imprint, it's 172 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is a well written and illustrated layman accessible book. The author provides a good overview over the (scant) extant historical records for the locations and aspects of medieval gardens associated with castles and monasteries in Britain and surrounding areas. It's well organized and easy to understand. The chapters are arranged thematically: historical records of medieval gardens, cultural influences, monastic and secular gardens, design, water features, parks, plants, gardeners, period tools, cultivation techniques, the gardener's seasonal calendar, and a very short tutorial guide with inspiration for modern gardeners to incorporate medieval features into their modern gardens.
The book is peppered throughout with drawings, facsimile historical documents, illustrations from period illuminated books, and modern photographs of recreated gardens - many of which have historical recreators in period dress. The photos especially added a lot for me and made it easy to imagine what the original gardens must've been like.
This is a good general introduction. It's not a scholarly work, so there aren't any chapter annotations, but the author has included a fair number of website resources and period gardens and resources which are open (at least part time) to the public. There's an abbreviated bibliography which will also provide opportunities for further reading.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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