The story of how Beth Chatto created her gravel garden on ‘possibly the driest, and the most windswept, piece of soil in England’ has a message of hope for gardeners everywhere. At the outset she promised herself: ‘This garden was not to be irrigated in times of drought. Once established the plants must fend for themselves or die.’

The results, beautifully portrayed in Steven Wooster’s specially commissioned photographs taken through the seasons, testify to the triumphant outcome of the adventure.