This is a portrait of forty of the best gardens in Dorset, from the intimate to the grand ranging over this timeless rural landscape of rolling hills, meadows, winterbournes & lush, well-wooded corners to the coast with its heathl&, steep chines & spectacular cliffs. There are delights & surprises aplenty, including a Roman temple in the suburbs of Bournemouth; a folly nestled within the fern garden of an ancestral manor; a classic cottage garden festooned with roses, honeysuckle & clematis; the spectacular subtropical coastal gardens of Abbotsbury; & the Arcadian landscape at Minterne, where a hillside of Himalayan rhododendrons & azaleas looks out over a chain of lakes, waterfalls & streams. Written in close consultation with the owners of the gardens, Roger Lane's informative text details the history of each garden & its development under the current owners, & then focuses on design, planting & the garden's relationship with the surrounding landscape. Glorious photographs taken through the seasons show the gardens at their finest.