TERRA NOSTRA GARDEN BOOK

 The book dedicated to Terra Nostra Garden is now available!

The much-awaited book dedicated to Terra Nostra Garden is now available in all Bensaude Hotels.

A unique work of art dedicated to a mystical garden of unparalleled beauty, considered by many to be one of the most beautiful in the world, being also a tribute to Vasco Bensaude, the main patron of Terra Nostra Garden, whose legacy is now preserved by head gardener Fernando Costa.

The author Luís Mendonça de Carvalho brings together in this work, images of Terra Nostra Garden during to the four seasons of the year, historical photographs, as well as texts about its history and its plants.

The Garden:

TERRA NOSTRA GARDEN

In the south of São Miguel Island lies a sleeping volcano with a crater 6 kilometers/3.6 miles wide and bathed in green slopes, covered by dense forests. In the center of this idyllic landscape is the Terra Nostra Garden – the oldest botanical garden in the Azores archipelago.  

With an abundance of secular trees, the Garden is home to shaded woods of palm and bamboo, colossal ginkgo trees and collections of unique plants in Europe and among the top in the world, such as the cycad collection, camellias, Malaysian rhododendrons, tree ferns and giant water lilies.

The Garden dates back to the end of the 18th century, when American merchant and Vice-consul Thomas Hickling visited Furnas and purchased a lot to build his summer house. In mid-19th century, the property was bought by the Viscounts of Praia, who, mimicking English gardens, gave it the classic lines it still preserves.

In the 1930s, the new owner Vasco Bensaude built the first hotel on the islands which he named Terra Nostra; later the name designated the Garden itself.

Hospitality which has always been this property’s brand is still its calling card today and visitors are invited to explore the forests, paths and ponds, where nature invites us to do some introspection.  At the same time, the unique thermal outdoor swimming pool, also known as the Tank, one of the emblems of the Azores, gives the Garden a mystical quality reinforcing and complementing the unique experience the Garden offers all its visitor

The Author:

Luis Manuel Mendonça de Carvalho

Luis Manuel Mendonça de Carvalho, Biologist, PhD in Plant Systematics and Morphology (University of Coimbra),Visiting Scholar at Harvard University and Professor and Director of the Botanical Museum (Polytechnic Institute of Beja)

Buy Today 

Do not miss the opportunity to purchase a copy of this unique work.

PVP 42€*

Available in English and in Portuguese

To order or reserve your edition(s), please fill out the form below, or send us an email to terra.nostra@bensaude.pt with your name, number of books you wish to obtain, which version you need (PT or EN), your address and we will contact you a sua morada e entraremos em contacto

*w/o shipping