Tom Stuart-Smith

Reviews / Votes

'Expect a serious case of garden envy when leafing through ... The methods and ideas for landscaping and planting throughout the book are sure to inspire your own plot' - Grand Designs 'A generous page size and lavish photography depicting 24 of Stuart-Smith's gardens at their peak enable the reader to feel they have walked into them ... Throughout, the narrative is interspersed with quotes enabling the reader to understand how Stuart-Smith's mind works ... This book works on one level as a page-turning stroll through beautifully landscaped gardens but, on another, makes for quite a challenging read. Even the smallest of plots has a history, a place in the landscape, and is perhaps more deserving of considered design' - World of Interiors 'An awe-inspiring testimony to the possibilities of complex planting, subtle landscaping and inventive thematic design' - Inigo 'A treat for garden lovers and professionals alike ... an expert overview' - House & Garden 'Gardening books tend to stand or fall by their photographs and this one earns its hefty price tag with outstandingly good images; they are so beautiful that I found myself sighing with pleasure as I leafed through them' - Daily Mail 'Thames & Hudson deserve the greatest praise for their inspired choice of author, Tim Richardson, to document Tom Stuart-Smith's work for when you bring great people together the results can be, as with this book, particularly special' - Paddy Toibin, 'An Irish Gardener' blog 'The triangulation between place, people and ideas that Tom Stuart-Smith aims for in his gardens has been gloriously echoed in Tim Richardson's book ... This book and the gardens it describes are grand and opulent but fundamentally tender and thoughtful ...[an] illuminating oeuvre' - Gardens Illustrated 'A collaborative and conversational retrospective of the work - and inner workings - of one of the UK's most influential and imaginative designers ... illuminating' - Gardens Illustrated 'The gardening book of the year ... The pictures are lovely, obviously, and the detailed analysis absorbing, but the best thing about the book are the essays by Stuart-Smith himself, who allies a lyrical imagination and lovely prose with practical intelligence ... Wonderful' - Evening Standard 'Packed with detail ... fascinating' - Garden Answers 'An impressive read... you can pore over the photos and glean practical gems from the text. There are wondrous things here - not least Stuart-Smith's approach to sustainable gardening - that can be emulated in the smallest plot' - The Times, Gardening Books of the Year 2021