The story of the restoration of a neglected cottage garden to the idyllic state of the author's memory. Nichols undertakes the long process of restoring and designing the garden at Allways, Huntingdonshire as a self-confessed amateur with little or no knowledge of horticulturalism, having been seduced by the vibrant illustrations of bulb catalogues and the hazy ideal of the cottage garden. The development of the project through the seasons unfolds in detail as Nichols introduces the reader to a gallery of characters along the way, from the formidable Mrs M. to Mr Honey, the engimatic nurseryman who only speaks in Latin.