The advantages of these guides is that they are cheaper and have more colour illustrations. Many excellent gardens are excluded because the owners do not like advertising. This tends to be factually accurate but boastful and incomplete. One has to start with the map, then go to the index, then to the page reference, then back to the map and so on forever. One then finds that the place one thought of visiting either does not have a garden or it is closed on the day in question.
Motorists have little awareness of county boundaries.
Approx 300 pages but a better graphic layout and a comprehensive system of symbols which provides information for those who take the trouble to learn what they mean. The index is much clearer than Hudsons and the guide is generally easier to use - but it has many less entries and is not really a good buy for garden visitors. Johansens has the better layout but Hudsons is the better buy, despite the higher price.