New book explores lost island garden

A FABULOUS terraced garden - once famous, now lost - on the island of Malta is evoked in a new book by Bosham's Josephine Tyndale-Biscoe.

At the time of the garden's creation in 1820, the Maltese people welcomed the British as their saviours from Napoleon.

The garden's creator was John Hookham Frere, an eminent English politician and diplomat, academic and humanitarian, who retired to Malta after a career at the centre of British politics during the Napoleonic Wars. He dedicated the rest of his life to the Maltese people and to creating this remarkable garden.

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Josephine tells its story in A Lost Maltese Garden '“ John Hookham Frere's Masterpiece (5.99, available from Birchquest Ltd, Cedarcroft, Sunnyway, Bosham, West Sussex, PO18 8HQ - 01243 572223)

It's a story she tells for strong personal reasons. It was her beloved grandmother's garden. Josephine uses family photographs, memories and reminiscences as well as historic notes and diagrams to give a vivid picture of its creation and subsequent glories.

The book evokes the garden's heyday, dating from 1826. The Right Honourable John Hookham Frere settled in Malta in 1820 and began creating the gardens a few years later.

In the book, Josephine includes the social history of a cultivated man - and acknowledgement of his generosity to the people of Malta.

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"Extending over a rocky hillside, the intricate terraces, balustrades, rose-covered pergolas, tall shady trees and several themed gardens with temple, fountains and seasonal plantings, were a joy to the visitor.

"They were a point of interest to visiting royalty and charmed all who saw them. The lack of rainwater was no problem, as there appeared to have been about 13 wells on the three-acre property. The Price family, who restored the neglected gardens in 1886, have left us the legacy of a Maltese gem."

As Josephine says, in our modern times of over development, memories of the garden should encourage the admiration of past values of beauty, peace and tradition.

Sadly the garden was bombed during the war and effectively destroyed - though the house still stands: "There are a lot of old houses all along the avenue that the Maltese government won't spend any money on. The house is used as a store by a commercial chemical firm now.

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"But this was our family home. My grandmother was married from there. She was born there. She had always talked about it, and I just had it in my mind that I should try to discover all about it."

Josephine's grandmother died about ten years ago; Josephine saw the site for the first time four and a half years ago: "I regret not pumping her for more information.

"It was a very special garden. It was very beautiful. There were balustraded pathways. John Hookham Frere cared for it in a way that only a British gardener can care for a garden - and he was such a fascinating man."

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