Hillary Davis Travels's Blog

Travel Guide Review: The Gardens of English Heritage

The Gardens of English Heritage by Gilian Mawrey & Linden Groves

This is what I call a travel guide. Not a phone book of addresses and hours open. But a book I can read before I go to linger over each beautiful photograph and read evocative descriptions and plan a trip that I know beforehand I will love. 

Actually, this is a coffee table size book so you can not drop it in your bag and carry it with you but you can use it as a wonderful resource and inspiration before you go.

I lived in England for many years and on weekends would often take off to explore the National Heritage Gardens, which are magnificent. The English Heritage owns and manages historic properties throughout England for the benefit of the rest of us. This book opens their gates and allows you to visually stroll through them.

This lovely book covers 23 gardens, including Queen Victoria's Osborne House, Kenilworth Castle, Chiswick House, and Old Wardour Castle, among others.

Each property is fully detailed with its history, pictures of rooms and paintings and furniture, and descriptions of the gardeners and the gardens they created for the property.

If you love gardening and visiting historic homes, this book is for you. 

The Gardens of English Heritage by Gillian Mawrey & Linden Groves

Travel Guide Review: Paris Made By Hand

 

Oh, you are so going to love this little paperback guide called Paris: Made by Hand: 50 Shops Where Decorators and Stylists Source the Chic & Unique.

This wonderful book is written by Australian stylist, Pia Jane Bijkerk. As a stylist, she is constantly searching for the unusual or beautiful. Paris Made By Hand is her personal treasure trove of shops and workshops she found in Paris that still make things by hand. Or of shops that stock antique hand made items. 

Even if you have traveled to Paris for years, or have lived there, you still may not know most of the artisan boutiques she conveniently lists by arrondissement. With lush photography and evocative prose, Pia totally communicates the wonder of finding these places.

   These are her words describing Le Petit Atelier De Paris,"There is a common theme among the delicate, organic-shaped vases, the glossy, free-form tartlet dishes, the tiny house sculptures, and the little alphabet letters that fill the shop-each item is made by hand on the premises."

"As a lover of flea markets, this is where I come when there is not a flea market to be found in the city---the items are unassuming, rustic, and affordable, with little chairs and tables starting at 30 euros, and bigger items, like desks and dining tables, steady at around 400 euros."

I can't wait to go back to Paris to visit these extraordinary boutiques. Thank you Pia for sharing!

Paris: Made by Hand: 50 Shops Where Decorators and Stylists Source the Chic & Unique by Pia Jane Bijkerk