An A-Z of Animals in the Garden

A quirky look at some of the most unusual garden animals ever kept in Britain, from crocodiles to wombats

Perhaps one of the less known facts about the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti is that he kept wombats in his garden at Cheyne Walk, London, to whom he and Christina addressed poetry (he also kept zebu - a type of cattle). This is just one of the stories in this entertaining book, which brings together two great British pastimes: animal husbandry and the garden.

Taking the reader on a journey from the armadillos owned by merchants in the City of London in the eighteenth century and nourished on garden earthworms, to Queen Charlotte’s zebra, which was accommodated close to her house at Buckingham Gate and renowned for its nicotine-fueled filthy temper, here are quirky tales of animals in the garden through the centuries.

Twigs Way has also written The Garden Gnome: A History, Gertrude Jekyll, and The Cottage Garden. She is a garden historian and lecturer, and her media work includes Channel 4’s ’Lost Gardens’ Look East Series (BBC East), guest presenting for Radio 4 and various newspaper commissions including Cambridgeshire Evening News and The Independent on Sunday.