Beverley Nichols (1898–1983)

Husband: What's that you're reading?
Me: *holds book up* It's about a guy gardening.
Husband: *looks confused* Is it a novel?
Me: Nope. Like a memoir. Guy buys a big Georgian house in the country in England and builds a garden.
Husband: So it's like the most boring book ever written?
Me: It's interesting actually.
Husband: Uh huh. Nonfiction. Pshaw.
Me: You're reading nonfiction. You're reading three thousand pages on the Civil War.
Husband: That's different.

As delightfully exasperating as that show more conversation was, it does encapsulate most of what I have to say about Merry Hall. It has no plot, no thrust, it sounds like it ought be terribly dry, and it seems that there's little point (it's not even a how-to book--in fact, it would be worse than useless as a how-to book). And yet, it is a fabulously entertaining read--provided you like England and the English, find details compelling, and are content to be pulled along by voice. I do, I do, and I am. If you also do and are as well, you'll like Merry Hall, too. Falls short of five-star territory because Nichols is just a touch racist and a heap misogynistic and the (mostly brief) moments when those attitudes touch the pages make the book less than perfectly pleasant. They are not deal-breakers, however, as they seem to be, for the first, an unfortunate product of the time that we can almost excuse because there seems to be no malice in it, and, for the second, a disposition rather than an ideology and one which causes little harm in Nichols's mostly-male world. show less

Way back sometime in the 1970s – when I was a very little girl, but already in love with books I read a book called The Tree that Sat Down by Beverley Nichols. I loved every word of that little book and have remembered it ever since. I even remembered the author (as a child I thought Beverley Nichols was a woman, and it was many years before I discovered my mistake). I think we carry the books we loved as children with us somewhere – though I’m hopeless at remembering the titles of show more many of them now. That was pretty much my only experience of Beverley Nichols – until many years later – a few blogging friends began sharing their love of his adult books, their enthusiasm ensuring that I soon acquired some for myself.

Beverley Nichols was an enormously prolific writer – journalism, politics, autobiography and novels. Though some of his most popular works seem to have been his books of gardening and house restoration. Down the Garden Path is the first book in one of the two gardening trilogies that Nichols produced. A book about gardening restoration is not something I would usually read, but there was something very appealing about this trilogy. Having heard such wonderful things about Nichol’s warm witty writing from other readers, it seemed a good place to start. However, I think I probably have the best books still to read, as it seems some people believe the other gardening trilogy starting with Merry Hall is better than this one. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

“I bought my cottage by sending a wireless to Timbuctoo from the Mauretania, at midnight, with a fierce storm lashing the decks.
It sounds rather vulgar, but it is true.”

In the early 1930’s Beverley Nichols was already a well-known writer – still quite a young man, he also had a passion for gardens, and it would seem, enough money to buy a cottage with large gardens in the country. This book tells the story of the garden (and cottage) he bought in Cambridgeshire. It and the two sequels which follow were illustrated by Rex Whistler – and were a huge success.

Having quite rashly bought his cottage – because of the gardens he knew came with it –Beverley hurried down to view his new house, hardly able to wait to see the garden. He is met by Arthur – a strange, oddly behaved servant who provides him with uneatable food and stays in bed all morning. The garden however, which Beverley remembered so well has been sadly neglected, and is nothing like it had been. He is devastated, but the immediately starts putting it to rights, planning how it will look, researching in detail winter flowers, so that there is always flowers in his garden. It is a labour of love.

“It was not till I experimented with seeds plucked straight from a growing plant that I had my first success…the first thrill of creation…the first taste of blood. This, surely, must be akin to the pride of paternity…indeed, many soured bachelors would wager that it must be almost as wonderful to see the first tiny crinkled leaves of one’s first plant as to see the tiny crinkled face of one’s first child.”

Nichols writes deliciously about his garden, his descriptions are glorious, his passion for his flowers is infectious. Despite not being a gardener – or even all that knowledgeable about flowers I found myself quite happily caught up in Nichol’s enthusiasm and as someone who has been known to push a few daff bulbs into my garden soil and sit in my zero-gravity chair with a cup of tea and book on a sunny day I found myself oddly able to fully appreciate the glory in the appearance of little garden miracles. Though even while he is describing the glories of nature and his simple, never ending joy in the miracle of mother-nature – he can’t resist a little cheeky humour on the side.

“The seed of a blue lupin will usually produce a blue lupin. But the seed of a blue-eyed man may produce a brown-eyed bore…especially if his wife has a taste for gigolos.”

However probably the best parts of this book are Nichol’s mischievous portraits of some of his neighbours. We never get to know these people as well as I would have liked but, he is rather funny about them all – Mrs M, Miss W, Miss X (we never learn their full names either). One of his visitor; hilariously described, an affected woman, who makes much of her apparent tininess and feminine weakness. Another neighbour, Mrs M becomes Nichols’s rival and nagging thorn in his side. She finds something to criticise in everything he does, and Beverley presumably makes himself feel better by writing about her with such scathingly sharp wit. We even meet his parents who visit him in his country home.

It is Beverley Nichols simple joy for life that is so adorable here. I am really looking forward to reading a lot by him now. show less

Merry Hall is a new all time favorite book, and a very enthusiastic 5 stars! I had a good feeling about it the second I held it in my hands, because I noticed there was a smooth groove where many thumbs had been, turning pages, and that is a sure sign that a book has been loved by the masses. It couldn’t have been better! Merry Hall was published in 1951, and takes place in post-war England. If P.G. Wodehouse was to have written a nonfiction book about his experience with gardening, this show more would be the book!

Although people who love gardening will recognize many of the plants and trees referenced in Merry Hall, you don’t actually need to know anything about gardening to enjoy this one. Beverley Nichols is hilariously snarky, and he had me continuously pausing to cackle. I loved the cast of characters he encounters and captures in minute detail; from his talented but curmudgeonly gardener Oldfield, to his two nosy neighbors Miss Emily and “Our Rose.” Also, the way he writes about his cats “One” and “Four” is a true delight, and so accurate to how cats are.

Even amidst the snarky tone of Merry Hall, the deep admiration he has for nature shines through - there are moments in here that are genuinely beautiful and touching. Apparently Nichols wrote a whole bunch of these books, so I’m definitely planning on reading every single one! show less

A favorite read of the year! This is the second book in the Merry Hall trilogy, about a 1950s British author’s adventures in gardening. Merry Hall was one of my top ten reads of 2024, so I had trouble imagining that Laughter on the Stairs could possibly reach the heights of hilarity of its predecessor. I’m happy to report that it is every bit as enjoyable as Merry Hall was!

Rather than focusing primarily on the garden, like in Merry Hall, Laughter on the Stairs is mostly about Beverley show more Nichols’ experience renovating the house itself. We get plenty of returning characters, plus some delightful new ones! Mrs. Fortescue, his temporary housekeeper while Gaskin recovers from surgery, and unanticipated superfan of Nichols, had me laughing the hardest. Nichols’ friendship with Miss Mint, the neighbor who is afraid of everything, was unexpectedly touching and made me well up at the end.

I loved the chapter on birds, and the chapter where the new kitten, “Five,” is brought to the house for the first time. And the grand finale of the ultra competitive flower show at the end of the book left me weak from laughter!

What’s unbelievable to me is that these haven’t yet been made into audiobooks! As fun as it is to physically read Laughter on the Stairs, it would truly be next level to be able to listen to someone act out all the characters. show less