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Growing her own...




Wellesbourne Airfield
Wellesbourne Airfield

“One particular one would be in Pompeii. It’s on a split level, with water features, terraces, fountains and pergolas. It must have been especially fine before the volcano destroyed the town. They’ve found evidence of vines over the pergolas and there would have been statues.”

Linda added: “Of course there are some gardens in Britain, including Fishbourne Roman Palace on the south coast, with its beautiful topiary, which of course the Romans invented.”

Even as a young girl Linda loved gardening, she recalls how her mother gave her her own little bit of the garden in their Coventry home to look after.

“I made paths using pebbles and had a bowl as a pool and sticks as trees, with little people on a path,” remembers Linda.

Her love of history and gardening saw her study ancient history, classical archaeology and classics at Warwick University and led her to travel around the world exploring amazing sites of historic interest.

In fact, it was on a study tour of Crete that she met her husband, Jim. Luckily, he too is keen on gardening.

The couple moved to Stratford-upon-Avon over ten years ago. Linda’s book is about gardeners too, so who would she have liked to have met?

“Ali Ibn Farrah. His name is similar to mine but I very much doubt he is an ancestor!” laughs Linda.

“He was an Islamic Moor who famously worked in southern Spain in the 12th century. He was like a botanist, concerned with finding medicinal plants as well as the beauty of the gardens. He brought a number of plants into Spain from North Africa, Syria and Persia. They were propagated and disseminated, even eventually reaching mediaeval Britain.”

Lastly, why should we read Gardens and Gardeners of the Ancient World? “It’s a mix of history and gardening, and reveals many interesting aspects of gardens in the past, such as how they cultivated the ground.

And there are accounts of some amazing gardens both real, such as Eram [in what is now Iran], and imaginary, such as the mythical Garden of Alcinous [name checked by Greek writer Homer].”

Gardens and Gardeners of the Ancient World is published by Windgather Press and available on www.amazon.co.uk, priced £25.



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