Anna Pavord's pick of festive gardening reads: From Digging with the Duchess to Where Do...

​

'Festive Cheer! Book your Christmas meal now!" screeches the banner on a particularly unattractive roadhouse I pass on our route to the motorway. It went up in August. I refuse to think about Christmas until December. Yes – that does mean a bit of a scrabble to sort out presents, but here's the good news. You can buy every grown-up you know a copy of Digging with the Duchess by Sam Llewellyn. And no. He's not a relation. I've never even met him, though I'd like to. He writes a column (always the first thing I turn to) in an excellent quarterly magazine called Hortus, which is where he first began to spin stories about The Hope, his place in the Welsh Marches. He's now gathered these magnificently surreal pieces into a book (published by New Hat, £10; order online at diggingwiththeduchess.co.uk).










Continue reading...