About this item
Beth Chatto was the inspiration behind the "right plant, right place" ethos that lies at the heart of modern gardening. She also wrote some of the best-loved gardening books of the 20th century, among them The Dry Garden, The Damp Garden, and Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden. Some years before her death in May 2018, aged 94, Beth authorized Catherine Horwood to write her biography, with exclusive access to her archive. It also includes extracts from Beth's notebooks and diaries, never previously published, bringing Beth's own distinctive and much-loved voice into the book. Most of the photographs from Beth's personal archives, have also never been seen in print before. For Beth's legions of fans, here is the personal story behind her beliefs and the struggles and determination that brought her success.
About the Author
Dr Catherine Horwood has written widely on British social and cultural history, and her latest book, Gardening Women: Their Stories from 1600 to the Present will be published in the UK by Virago in May 2010.
A passionate gardener, she has won many prizes for her gardens which have been featured in books and magazines internationally, and was for many years an assistant organiser of the National Gardens Scheme, of the famous 'Yellow Book' gardens open for charity, in the London area. She now gardens high on a roof in North London and firmly on the ground in Suffolk.
Before raising her family, Catherine was a journalist on UK magazines including Good Housekeeping. She returned to further education in her forties and is now an honorary research fellow of the Bedford Centre for the History of Women at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her PhD was 'Keeping Up Appearances. Clothes, Class and Culture, 1918-1939'. She has been a visiting fellow at the Yale Center for British Art, and, in 2007, was awarded the Ernestine Richter Avery Fellowship at the Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA.
In addition to her books, she regularly writes articles and book reviews for leading UK publications and newspapers, and gives talks on her favourite interests of gardening and dress codes.
Photo credit: Charlie Hopkinson
