Born in London, Alasdair Forbes graduated with an honours history degree from McGill University, in Montreal, before completing an MA in the history of art at the Courtauld Institute. He has worked in Paris and Vancouver, and lived for short periods in India and Italy. Before moving to Devon, he lived and taught in London. For the last thirty years he has been preoccupied with creating and looking after his garden. He is currently preparing a series of lectures on the meaning of place to be given at Exeter University.
This is indeed a beautifully designed and produced book, intensively illustrated by atmospheric photographs, but - above all - illuminated by a thoughtful text, muscularly written and unflinchingly readable. * Hortus * Forbes...has produced a book which constitutes the ideal introduction and companion to a garden that is emerging as highly significant in an international context. It is copiously filled with Forbes's own evocative photographs, while the text is a deeply argued, scholarly tour de force, replete with references to philosophy, painting, poetry and psychology. As such it stands as an admirable riposte and corrective to all those from other disciplines who still insist on condescending to garden-making as little more than a hobby or pastime. -- Tim Richardson * Sunday Telegraph * A beautifully illustrated paean to one man's philosophy of art and ideas, and his creation of an extraordinary, innovative garden. * Gardens Illustrated * An extraordinary book about an extraordinary place...Very lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced in a large quarto format. The whole design and production mirror the devoted care and thought that has gone into creating these remarkable gardens themselves. * Classics for All * This book merits slow and careful re-reading during the long, winter evenings. The design, photographs and production are all superb. -- Ursula Buchan * Spectator * An extraordinary book about an extraordinary garden. Profusely and well illustrated enough to enable readers to place their imagination in the garden's spaces, this book will nevertheless tempt and tantalise. -- Noel Kingsbury * The Garden *