Review of Kitchen Garden Estate - The Accidental Smallholder

If nothing else, “The Kitchen Garden Estate” has inspired me to get out and about this summer and visit some of the wonderful properties that are owned and managed by the National Trust and the National Trust for Scotland.

Helene Gammack is a garden designer and researcher with a Masters in garden history; she has worked with the National Trust previously and has published before on self-sufficiency on country estates. She also keeps bees, chickens and has a potager – so she is also a smallholder.

The book is visually attractive. Every page has lovely photographs, etchings and drawings of stately homes, architects’ designs, works of art, flora and fauna.

The content is divided into nine sections:

• Fruit and vegetables, including walled kitchen gardens
• Herbs and flowers
• Orchards
• Bees and beekeeping
• Fish ponds and lakes
• Dovecotes and poultry yards
• The Dairy and Home Farm
• The Deer Park and Game
• Hop gardens and vineyards

Each section contains a history of the topic, recipes and extracts from historical texts, as well as a description of how things are done today.

The book isn’t a manual for smallholders, but it is interesting to understand the history of what we do today. This is a lovely book and would make a good gift for any smallholder with an interest in things historical.