The Angel Tree

As readers of The Luberon Garden will know, Alex Dingwall-Main has come across some very odd garden desires in his time. But none so odd as the Frenchman who asked Alex to find him the oldest olive tree in existence and fetch it to the South of France to take pride of place in his exquisite garden.

This charming, witty and evocative piece of horticultural travel writing takes us from the olive groves of Provence, to the hillsides of Greece, from farms in Spain, to a back yard in Italy. Along the way our intrepid garden designer meets a tree that is 3,000 years old; a farmer who won''t sell his tree unless he can sell the 2,000 acre farm that surrounds it; an olive tree that saved a marriage and a village that believes a drop of rain touched by the leaves of the ancient ''Angel Olive'' will cure anything.

A wonderfully lyrical book with an extraordinary mission.