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A Fenland Garden is the story of the creation of a garden in a complex and fragile English landscape – the Fens of southern Lincolnshire – by a writer who has a very particular relationship with landscape and the soil, thanks to his distinguished career as an archaeologist and discoverer of some of England's earliest field systems. It describes the imagining, planning and building of a garden in an unfamiliar and sometimes hostile place, and the challenges, setbacks and joys these processes entail. This is a narrative of the making of a garden, but it is also about reclaiming a patch of ground for nature and wildlife – of repairing the damage done to a small slice of Fenland landscape by decades of intensive farming.
A Fenland Garden is informed by the empirical wisdom of a practising gardener (and archaeologist) and by his deep understanding of the soil, landscape and weather of the region; Francis's account of the development of the garden is counterpointed by fascinating nuggets of Fenland lore and history, as well as by vignettes of the plantsman's trials and tribulations as he works an exceptionally demanding plot of land. Above all, A Fenland Garden is the story of bringing something beautiful into being; of embedding a garden in the local landscape; and thereby of deepening and broadening the idea of home. And it is told in Francis's friendly, engaging and always informative and authoritative voice.
Francis Pryor is one of Britain's most distinguished living archaeologists, the excavator of Flag Fen and a sheep farmer. He is the author of seventeen books including The Fens (a Radio 4 Book of the Week), Stonehenge, Flag Fen, Britain BC, Britain AD, The Making of the British Landscape and Scenes from Prehistoric Life.
"A gloriously bucolic fenland hymn celebrating one man's love for his garden and his wife. Francis is a fine writer and visionary, with an intelligence as sharp as an archaeologist's trowel. Time spent in his company in person or in print is well spent!"
– Tony Robinson
"Brings to life the sense of place, that mythical bond between a garden and its natural landscape."
– George Plumptre, CEO of the National Garden Scheme
"Pryor is clearly smitten with the Fens. A gently heroic account of one archaeologist's attempts to transform a beloved but exhausted landscape into a place where nature thrives."
– Sally Coulthard, author of A Short History of the World According to Sheep
"The pleasure [Pryor] takes in old landscapes and farming practices, and in the poetic words that describe them [...] is palpable"
– The Times Literary Supplement
"Francis Pryor and his archaeologist wife Maisie, share their thoughtful garden-making in A Fenland Garden. Through their love of the land, they unearth some great garden stories and historical insights [...] A marvellous chronicle"
– RHS Magzine
"In this uplifting read, [Pryor] reclaims the land bit by bit to produce a garden where nature thrives once more."
– Britain Magazine
"Francis's account of the development of the garden is counterpointed by fascinating nuggets of Fenland lore and history, as well as snippets of the plantsman's trials and tribulations as he works an exceptionally demanding plot of land."
– Countryside magazine
"This is a charming story of a fruitful, resourceful partnership, which has produced a landscape of real quality, attractive both to wildlife and to visitors welcomed on charity open days."
– Spectator
