Secret Gardens

Secret gardens abound in literature. Their aura of mystery and inaccessibility makes them irresistible, and when the key is finally found, magic still surrounds them. Real secret gardens have all these elements of surprise and unattainability, a sense of being hidden from prying eyes, known only to the chosen few, difficult to penetrate. Each of the gardens revealed here is described in detail by its owner and we learn how each was created and why. Most are unknown, although some - Sylvia's garden at Newby Hall, and the summer garden at Thurly Harcourt in France - are open to visitors; yet all retain their intimate atmosphere. They range from a Portuguese camellia garden to a minute New York roof-garden, from an English country stream-side garden to one stretching either side of a railway track. Taken together they show that all gardeners can have somewhere secret, however small within their own garden or house.