Non Fiction Authors From England

"The general powers of green, as a colour, associate it with the ideas of vigour and freshness; and it is hence symbolical of youth, the spring of life being analogous to the spring of the year, in which nature is surprisingly diffuse of this colour in all its freshness, luxuriance, and variety; soliciting the eye of taste, and well claiming the attention of the landscape-painter...Verdure is also the symbol of hope, which, like the animating greenness of plants, leaves us only with life: it is also emblematical of immortality, and the figure of old Saturn or Time is crowned with evergreen."

"'Madame Alfred Carrière' This was the first rose planted by Vita at in 1930, before the deeds were even signed, and it quickly covered most of the south face of the South Cottage and in Vita and Harold's day was left to 'render invisible' most of the front of the house and trained around her bedroom window to pour scent into the house for months at a stretch. It is still there, and now has a huge trunk wider than my husband's thigh."

"Green...contrasts more agreeably with all colours than any other individual colour. It has accordingly been adopted with perfect wisdom in nature as the general garb of the vegetal creation."

"According to the type of terrain and the of the line, them may cost anything from twice to sixteen times that of s."

"The provision of adequate fast and pleasant traffic roads, could be combined with low speed-limits for by-roads. This would reduce both the temptation to through-traffic to use the by-roads and the danger and unpleasantness caused by those did use them."

"is the only element, besides birds and human beings, which brings life and movement into the garden, while an expanse of still water gives a unique sense of space and unity. It clarifies a design by accentuating the basic level to which all else relates."

"My first choice must be that of the landscape architect Sylvia Crowe who published Garden Design in 1958. It remains the most comprehensive book on design I know... She covers Far Eastern developments, the , , English garden development and finally the contemporary garden in the West. But it is not all history – she weaves in design theory as she describes historical settings."

"What more serious question can there be, than to enter upon an inquiry into the various stages of the vast system of Divine preparation by which under the ever-present action of the government of a Divine Providence over the affairs of men, the world was in the end prepared for the coming of its Redeemer?"

"Anglia cui mater fuerat, cui Gallia nutrix, Matri nutricem praefero mente meam. Six utriusque tamen meritis praeconia justis Attribuo, niteant ut probitate pares."

"Gray denotes a class of cool cinereous colours...The grays, like the other semi-neutrals, are sober, modest colours, contributing to the expression of gloom, sadness, frigidity, and fear,—the grave, the obscure, the spectral,—age, decrepitude, and death; bordering in these respects upon the powers of black, but aiding the livelier and more cheering expressions of other colours by diversity, connexion, and contrast, and partaking of the more tender and delicate influence belonging to white, as they approach it in their lighter tints."

"The Italians who crossed the by invitation brought with them a technical scenic ability, the s being as well equipped as the ers themselves. Of the former, was probably the greatest. He was a native of , made his name in Rome, and attracted the attention of von Liechtenstein, for whom he built . He appears to have carried out little garden design, but his influence on detail was profound. ... Another architect was , who built the Salesian Nunnery and altered the . Both are as well designed as anything in Austria. Of the scenic designers the working in were the most famous. In Vienna designed theatrical scenery, the monument in the , and the Imperial palace of Favorita (now the ). Of architectural draughtsmen the best was . In the train of the Italians came the craftsmen, men who set a standard of technique as high as at any time."

"Away from her prison work, divided her time between London and , where she and her husband raised two adopted daughters, Isabella and Esther, at their home, , near . There, they commissioned a celebrated from Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe in 1969, which many consider his finest work."

"As purple, when inclining toward redness, is a regal and pompous colour, it has been used in mythological representations to distinguish the robe of Jupiter the king of Gods, and in general also as a mark of sacerdotal superiority: in its effects on the mind it partakes principally, however, of the powers of its archeus, or ruling colour, blue, and is hence a highly poetical colour, stately, dignifying, sedate, and grave; soothing in its lights, and saddening in its shades: accordingly it contributes to these sentiments under the proper management of the painter and the poet, as it does also popularly in its use in court mournings, and other circumstances of state: hence the poets sing of "purple state.""

"A garden is a place to enjoy and indulge in, something you can love, somewhere you can nurture. It stimulates all the senses, and its very unpredictability gives it a vitality not often encountered in our contrived and controlled world. My plot is on a south-west-facing slope about 150m above sea level in north , in a lull between and . The soil is heavy , ochre and grey at its worst, with random streaks of , known locally as shillet. There are trees wrapped around one side of it and a seriously overgrown hedge, up to 18m tall and counting, whose fallen leaves have gradually changed the soil beneath to acid . All the garden lies in front of the house and is bisected by a track that joins the cottage to the outside world - or is it the other way around? For such a small plot, less than an acre, there is a huge diversity of conditions, from sunny and Mediterranean to murky shade, enabling us to grow a wide range of plants. We cultivate vegetables and some fruit, too."

"... Jane, 72, who in the mid-1960s worked as the first secretary of ’s fan club, and her husband, Rob, 76, a retired advertising executive, are far from being stereotypical old buffers. In fact, they were trend-setters in their day — among the first of the “down-shifting” young professionals who had the chutzpah to get off the corporate conveyor belt, sell up in London and go in search of a better quality of life in the sticks. ‘There was a time when people said to , “you must be Jane’s son”, she says wistfully. ‘Then suddenly I was Hugh’s mother’. Their decision to swap the security of a regular salary cheque for life in the freelance lane took considerable courage in 1971, with unemployment hovering at the 7% mark. “We did it for the children, really,” Jane recalls. “Both Rob and I were brought up in the countryside, and we wanted the same for Sophy and Hugh. We were living in at the time, but this was before it became posh. It was lively and multi-ethnic, with around the corner. It was lots of fun, but it was not the best place to bring up children."

"The rose colours of madder have justly been considered as supplying a desideratum, and as the most valuable acquisition of the palette in modern times, since perfectly permanent transparent reds and rose-colours were previously unknown to the art of painting."

"We moved to Perch Hill in 1994 from London and found a rather ramshackle ex- with a lot of concrete, corrugated iron and a small garden with a on the south side of the house. Since then, we converted the farm into an organic 90 acres, putting in new hedges on old lines, trying to encourage wildflowers into the meadows and introducing our own herd of and a flock or Romney-cross sheep."

"The garden at Ashwood Nurseries is wonderful and John Massey is a brilliant bloke. , naturally, but also Marchants Hardy Plants. I’ve known [founder] Graham Gough ever since he was working with Elizabeth Strangman, who is one of my all-time heroines. I love the – I love everything about it, but particularly its overall attitude. It’s incredibly welcoming and it involves not just visitors from elsewhere but everybody in the city. It has real energy."

"In 1978, she and her husband Neil (who sounds completely splendid) settled in and bought Glebe Cottage, which came with an acre of rough grass, weeds and brambles. Creating a garden there, the first proper one she’d ever had, transformed her life. ‘As much as I made this garden, this garden made me,’ she writes. She discovered she had a knack for propagating plants and started selling them at country markets before creating her own nursery, while also raising her two daughters. Soon she began exhibiting at shows and then was asked to design a garden at the . Before long, a TV producer spotted her potential and she got a job presenting the show Real Gardens. Klein first appeared on in 1989 when the late, great did a feature on Glebe Cottage."

"For me, the perfect weekend is one spent with the whole family, ideally at the beachside cottage we rent in North Cornwall. I have happy memories of holidays in Cornwall when our children Sophy and were about the age our grandchildren are now. There are 11 of us: me, my husband Rob, Sophy and Hugh and their spouses, and our five grandchildren, and we do all the usual things: build s on and wait for the tide to come in and destroy them. We search for prawns, crabs and sea anemones in rock pools. We might even do some surfing. We'll go mackerel fishing in a boat, and if we catch anything (which everyone always does, that's the great thing about mackerel fishing). Then Hugh ... will whip out his little bottle of home-brewed and we'll all sit there in the middle of the ocean, tucking into fresh mackerel ."

"You can't always predict what will get a child's imagination started, but in my experience they tend to remain absorbed longer with fantasy games."

"I have six grandchildren and when I have them with me I do love giving them treats — or a . But they are given as a surprise reward for behaving well, not in response to whingeing. One reason so many children are more overweight today could be that they lead less active lives than we did. We walked to school and spent more time playing in the fresh air. Houses were not as warm, so we used up more calories: food was fuel to keep us going. If grandparents are feeding grandchildren the same portions they ate as children, it's probably too much."

"Let’s start in the garden. This year cookery writers are as happy digging and planting as slicing and braising. Sarah Raven is a great gardener and, on the evidence of her latest book, Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook (, £35), she’s a good cook too. This is a book for a lifetime of cooking: there are more than 400 recipes based on fruit and vegetables. It is not vegetarian — she uses fish and meat too — but vegetables and fruit are to the fore. Raven’s recipes are simple, practical and enticing, and there isn’t one I don’t want to cook. The book is divided into two-month chunks and full of suggestions (snip off pea tendrils for salads, or leave a few beetroot in the ground to produce an early spring salad leaf) and tips on the most tasty varieties to grow. Her ten recipes will sort out an impending green avalanche, and she has five good marrow recipes for when the wretched plants have triumphed."

"Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall cooked and ate a root while researching her book Peonies: The Imperial Flower (1999). She described the flavour as 'reminiscent of turnips soaked in wallpaper paste mixed with '."

"There are many good and helpful books worth careful reading—among which may be mentioned: 's How to Lay out a Garden, 's Landscape Gardening, 's Formal Garden in England, 's great work L'Art des Jardins, 's Art and Craft of Garden Making, and from the historical side A History of Gardening in England by the Hon. . The standard work on Japanese gardens is by . Many other books might be mentioned, but the above I have found the most interesting from the design point of view ..."

"Charles and Theresa entertained many friends at ‘Woodlands’ including , , , Henry James, Thomas Croft, and members of the Lushington family who also lived locally. Edward Burne-Jones was particularly keen to visit. He had previously stayed with his friend Stanhope at neighbouring ‘Sandroyd House’ which had been built in 1860 for the pre-Raphaelite painter by the architect , and visited the lovely fir woods in the surrounding area. Theresa’s garden was much admired by those in her circle, it comprised a terrace with planters, beds and borders of hardy plants and a in which she also grew culinary herbs."

"The came in with , and work, already practised, became the vogue. Stiff s, and , with the orange trees in tubs outside during the summer, were in every garden of fashion. ... One of the most charming developments of 's time in topiary work was the long alley bordered by trees, generally , kept clipped up to about 10 ft. and then allowed to feather naturally. During this reign the revolt began towards "nature"."

"The position of the kitchen garden is largely dependent on the position of the kitchen, and easy and private access should be arranged between them. Size has to be settled. An acre is supposed to be enough to supply ten persons with vegetables and small fruit, and the designer can tell from the type of house how many have to be catered for; and he rules off sufficient space. Then come the s for games. The most naturally level part should be chosen for them, other conditions being satisfactory. A lawn tennis court measures 78 ft. × 36 ft., and to ensure ample running back space, 120 ft. × 60 ft. must be allowed. requires 115 ft. × 84 ft. for a full sized game, and 120 × 90 ft. of levelled lawn should be provided. A fall of 2 in. in the 100 ft. does not affect tennis, but for croquet the lawn must be a true level. A tennis court ought to run north and south in order to avoid the afternoon sun."

"Many people would say, 'So strict a way of would make life unbearable,' but after a time this strictness so changes the tastes the simpler foods are really enjoyed, and I distinctly think, that when people have dieted for several years, the amount of harm done by an occasional relapse is so small that the social convenience of it makes it worth while, so long as it is acknowledged as a concession to weakness and not a thing to be continued. It is what is done every day that matters."

"... This is a most decorative herb, with pink buds on stems covered with purplish-grey hairs that glisten in the sun. The flowers are intense blue with a black cone of s. The plant usually grows 18ins. to 2½ft. high."

"A striking plant from Tibet, the asafoetida has stimulant properties, and is a close relative of ) which it resembles to some extent, as it has the typical divided foliage and inflorescence of the (the family)."

"... Horticultural Show in the Temple Gardens. I go every year now, and should be sorry to miss it. How odd it seems, that for years and years I never went to a , or knew anything about them, and now they have become one of the interests of my life! The great attraction this year is the revival of what are called old-fashioned late single Tulips—Breeders, Flames, &c. Those who like to buy the bulbs, ordering them carefully by the catalogue, may have their gardens gay with Tulips for over two months, certainly the whole of April and May."

"In one home, the newly-wed is learning to cook, and as her husband enjoyed straight , she is enchanted when her roast chicken with its , and stuffings, is a success. In another home, with more adventures tastes, the of steak, potatoes and onions, is (unusually for our palates) flavoured not only with marjoram but with the pungency of seeds."

"grows some 6–12in. high, spreading laterally, with a "japanses" style of growth, and has mint-blue flowers, like the type. It needs a really warm, dry and sheltered spot outside and is a risky investment, but makes a delightful cool greenhouse plant, with the flowers coming out in February and March, an encouraging harbinger of spring. Prostrate Rosemary is also suitable as a specimen for a sheltered sink garden."

"How many of the travelers who visit now remember that she is one of the most ancient cities of Italy, and was famous when Rome was but a hamlet? They can see the ancient walls, but can they conceive that in the long history of the community settled between the rivers and the grey lines of buildings are but of yesterday? They may perhaps remember that a palace of Hadrian, one of the greatest or Roman Emperors, stood where the now stands; that temples to Apollo and to covered the sites of the churches of and in Borgo; that at the foot of the Via S. Maria grave priestesses of sang hymns in honour their goddess, who ripened the golden corn which covered the plains from the Monte Pisano to the coast; and that in a temple which stood in the Piazza S. Andrea love-sick young men and maidens presented their offerings at the shrine of Venus and made their vows to the goddess they evoked. But can they realize that in those far-off days, before our Christian era began, Pisa was a city so old that its beginnings were even then half-concealed, half-concealed, half-disclosed, in legends of her origin?"

"The great event of my life was my birthday, when I was allowed to dine downstairs, and to invite my particular friends. My fifth I well remember, for Thackeray played a trick on the "young revolutionist," as he afterwards called me, because I was born on the . My guests were , , , Bayley, and Thackeray, who gave me an oyster, declaring that it was like cabinet pudding. But I turned the tables on him, for I liked it, and insisted, as queen of the day, on having two more of his. I still possess a sketch he made for the of ' while I was sitting on his knee."

"... ... made the move, relocating to ... the . He formally entered the city in February 1865 ... Two years after this Janet arrived from Alexandria, Egypt, where she had been living with her husband Henry Ross, for the previous five years. Her trip to was planned as a short holiday. She booked a berth on a run-down steamer that took a route out from Alexandria across the Mediterranean to the southern Italian port of . From there she went by carriage northwards up the peninsula, through beautiful countryside with hills of old knotted olive trees and swathes of perfumed lavender, beneath a brilliant blue sky. Her plan was to arrive in Florence and stay for a fortnight as the guest of an old family friend and relative by marriage, , the British Ambassador to Italy. She had read about Florence, its treasures and its history. She was familiar with its great writers, Dante and Boccaccio, the unsurpassed beauty created by its painters, and the understated order achieved by its architects. She had heard stories of the proud patrician families with their age-old feuds and allegiances — names like , and — and she knew something of the story of Savonarola and how he was burnt at the stake in the . This was her opportunity to witness for herself the history that till now she had only read about in books."

"Of 's seven children, was perhaps the handsomest and most gifted; the extraordinary vigour of her mind and body was almost overpowering, but it stood her in good stead during a long and not over-prosperous life, and was tempered by an excellent judgment and a very kind heart. No one ever appealed to her in vain; and in her old age children flocked round her with delight to hear "" or one of , so well and graphically told."

"Cabbage (Red) ' alla Fiamminga.' Remove the outer leaves of a and cut it in pieces. Put it into boiling water for fifteen minutes, then dry, and place it in a sauce-pan with four ounces of , a chopped-up onion, a , two s, and a little salt and pepper. Boil slowly for about half an hour, stirring it often. When cooked, take out the bay leaf, add a little butter and serve quickly."

"Mrs. Ross laid in our wood, wine and servants for us, and they are excellent. She had the house scoured from Cellar to rook the curtains washed and put up, all beds pulled to pieces, beaten, washed, and put together again, and beguiled the Marchese into putting a big porcelain stove in the vast central hall. She is a wonderful woman, and we don't quite see how or when we should have gotten under way without her."

"Janet Ross was one of those -like dragons for whom the word “formidable” was practically invented. Born in London in 1842, she spent the last six decades of her life — from 1867 until her death in 1927 — as an increasingly commanding personage in the Anglo-Tuscan colony around , where she was known (and feared) as Aunt Janet. freely acknowledges near the beginning of “Queen Bee of Tuscany” that Ross “had her limitations. Though intelligent and learned, especially for an autodidact, she was by no means brilliant. She had little imagination or inner life, and she made no towering contribution to humanity.” Thus the biographer throws down his own gauntlet: Why, then, are we reading about her? Downing, a co-editor of , and a walking Who’s Who of the , provides an answer in the form of It’s Who She Knew. And Aunt Granite (as the younger generation called her) knew everybody — or at least everybody who passed through Florence, which in Downing’s telling comes to the same thing. An endless procession of now forgotten artists and writers and social somebodies made their way to her door. Major figures do show up. In 1887, Henry James pays her a three-day visit, although “nowhere in her writings,” Downing acknowledges, somewhat sheepishly, “does she so much as mention James.”"

"… The accepted idea of the of a building, furniture or a painting, as the rehabilitation of an object already in existence, albeit in imperfect form, cannot be applied to gardens which are by their nature organic. They have allotted life spans and have been dug up and refashioned over the centuries. ... At the has been able to restore the garden of the great from original plans, so that the design of the s and seen today is much as Evelyn described it when he visited in 1678. At in the National Trust has restored a from engravings, existing evidence and plant list which have enabled them to use contemporary plants including old cultivars of Turkish irises, apples and pears and old tulips. A current true restoration is being undertaken at , , where the poet 's famous beds, painted by in 1777, are being reinstated with authentic planting. … The ultimate in scholarly garden reconstruction is the Roman garden at executed through excavation and .."

"From the very first possessed a correct and vigorous style, and a nice sense of language, which were hereditary rather than implanted, and to these qualities was added a delightful strain of humour, shedding a current or original thought all through her writings. That her unusual gifts should have been so early developed is hardly surprising with one of her sympathetic temperament when we remember the throng of remarkable men and women who frequented the Austins' house. The Mills, the s, the s, the Carlyles, the s, Sydney Smith, , , Jeremy Bentham, and Lord Jeffrey, were among the most intimate friends of her parents, and 'Toodie,' as they called her, was a universal favourite with them. Once, staying at a friend's house, and hearing their little girl rebuked for asking questions, she said: ' My mamma never says "I don't know" of "Don't ask questions." '"

"Mavis fell in love with her future husband, , himself one of the Bletchley “break-in” experts, after he helped her with a particularly difficult code breaking problem: “I was alone on the evening shift in the cottage and I sought the help of what called 'one of the clever Cambridge mathematicians in Hut 6’. We put our heads together and in the calmer light of logic, and much ersatz coffee, solved the problem. Dilly made no objections to my having sought such help and when I told him I was going to marry the 'clever mathematician from hut 6’ he gave us a lovely wedding present.” After the war Mavis Batey brought her indefatigability to the protection of Britain’s historical gardens. Her interest began in the late 1960s, when her husband was appointed the “Secretary of the Chest”, the chief financial officer of Oxford University. They lived in a university-owned house on the park at and she set about ensuring that the overgrown gardens were restored to their original landscaped state."

"Minds which could soar to such metaphysical heights [of the Chuang Tzu] could not fail to be disillusioned by a refined but miniscule civilization constantly threatened with extinction by its own crass folly. Something had to take its place, and, just as today, either the jealous states would have to learn to live together or be crushed out of existence by an authoritarian power. It is not surprising, therefore, that a Chinese poet, faced with this problem, took refuge, as Rousseau did, in a revulsion from civilization itself."

"In the and the of the , grandiloquent homes were built for the nation's leaders and heroes with great avenues of approach and triumphal arches. Villages which were found to stand in the way of these grandiose undertakings were removed out of sight. Sweeping changes were made at the seat of the , the victor of , which necessitated the moving of the village of in ; was destroyed in the creating of 's dramatic for the ; disappeared in the lay-out for the magnificent seat of the in . The great Whig palaces and extensive gardens at , and overran ancient villages and hamlets that stood in the way of improvements. , who had envisaged an avenue of trees between London and his , began his improvements by removing the village of which lay in the shadow of his house. The village of in was resited to give breathing space to the family of . ... By the middle of the century great gardens were being made, not only to reflect their creator's importance or political beliefs, but to demonstrate the excellence of his taste. The new vogue was not for great avenues, canals, fountains and grand parterres but for naturalized landscape. Wealthy families in every county bought up vast tracts of land to make natural gardens, which would look like landscape paintings; some took the English countryside for these picture gardens and with the help of idealized and, 'improved' it; the with memories of their s revelled in the creation of Italian classical landscapes."

"Every day, sometimes once, or twice, or even three times, she found herself drinking , or whisky, in the , the famous where flashy young s with padded shoulders, seedy old men of past fame, forgotten geniuses, tough young women whose finger-nails were no cleaner than Shute's, and the usual sprinkling of stars and pretenders, met daily, or nightly, for a quick drink, a dirty story, and perhaps a chance contact with someone useful."

"Why did I write this book? I have already written a book of s published as long as 1973. It was called ‘’The Escapist Generations’’. If some of my readers remember this other book they will find repetitions. The basic story is the same — childhood scenes in California, memories of — but this time I have written a book of confessions, something I have never done before. I am a private person. For many years I have managed to keep my secrets to myself, protecting the men and women I have loved. Now all my loved ones are dead and no longer vulnerable. No one is left who might be hurt or damaged by these confessions unless it is myself. The time has come to tell a story which requires to be told."

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"Nerina Shute, who began writing about films in the along with fellow reviewers Graham Greene and John Betjeman, and who, some 60 years later, rounded off her literary career with a frank about her , has died aged 96. Shute, who was the last survivor of a celebrated coterie of film critics of the 1930s, was celebrated also for her openness about her sexuality: she was predominantly lesbian, but married twice. In 1930, when she was 22, she shocked many by a novel which contained what she archly called an "ambisex-trous" woman character, while at 84 she wrote a memoir, Passionate Friendships, in which she was candid about her many love affairs."