The Enchanted Garden is the story of how renowned landscape designer Paul Bangay came to build the garden of St Ambrose Farm, against the blue background of Mount Macedon – of how a long-deserted schoolhouse and its bare grounds cast an instant spell on him, even though he hadn't intended to buy a country place.
The breathtaking garden of vistas and green rooms that Paul Bangay designed, and photographer Simon Griffiths so evocatively captures, will weave a similar spell on readers. Yet, as Paul shows so frankly, enchantment is not without its price: his book is as much about the difficulties of large-scale gardening and the mistakes he's made as it is about his grand vision for St Ambrose Farm and the masterly way in which he set about achieving it.
St Ambrose Farm, like all good gardens, is not simply the sum of its plants and materials. It is a garden sensitive to a country setting with strong community and gardening traditions, and a garden woven with amusing and poignant memories of' family, friends and influences.
