Phil McCann

Following the popular BBC series, this book is the comprehensive guide to one of Europe's largest and most ambitious gardening projects, the magnificent RHS Bridgewater. RHS Garden Bridgewater has a rich history, deeply entrenched personal connections with the local community and now a dazzling and exciting future, all of which is brought to life in this sumptuous book. Set on the site of the former Worsley New Hall stately home in Manchester, bordering the Bridgewater canal, the Bridgewater garden is one of the most exciting public garden projects undertaken anywhere in the world in recent years. Guided by a masterplan from the renowned landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, it is a showpiece of horticultural excellence with a rich array of attractions, from walled gardens and Chinese streamside features to aromatic kitchen gardens and verdant wooded areas, all placed at the heart of the community.RHS Garden Bridgewater charts the glory years of royal visits to the site, the decline and fall into disrepair and the subsequent restoration and development of the gardens into what they are today. Chronicling personal memories from the people who shaped the gardens, the book is beautifully illustrated and provides a complete insight into how a garden was and will once again become an integral and inspirational part of the community.

A cricket tea is an integral part of any cricket match. It’s a well-known fact that some players only turn out at windswept grounds on the promise of a solid brew, a chewy wedge of cake and a sticky handful of egg mayo sandwiches. Likewise, there is always an occasional away fixture where the teas are traditionally so dire that mysterious illness and injury striking down a portion of the squad is all but guaranteed. Meanwhile, at the top level of the game, professionalism has now reached the kitchen and calories have joined run and strike rates on the ever-valuable statistics sheets that help to shape and tailor the regimes of the world’s finest cricketers. With recollections from village heroes, international stars and legends of the game, including the likes of Sir Michael Parkinson, Michael Vaughan and Jack Simmons, Cricket Teas is the first book to investigate this most sacred of sporting traditions.