Anglo-chinois gardens
It can be hard to grasp the shift in France from the great classical, geometric gardens of Le Nôtre and his followers to the so-called anglo-chinois style which swept the … Continue reading
Field Trip
Posts from landscapelover now feature on Google’s new app Field Trip. This seems to me a nifty concept that allows information about local places to pop up on your phone … Continue reading
400 years of Le Nôtre
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of André Le Nôtre, and the great designer is being honoured with an exhibition at the Tuileries in Paris and at … Continue reading
Sculpture in the garden
The splendid website ThinkinGardens hosted a discussion a while ago on sculpture in the garden. One commenter argued that a garden setting can enhance a sculpture, but that she had … Continue reading
Gardens of Power and Passion
I wrote here about the fascinating experience of working on a television history of French gardens, presented by Monty Don. The programme, called Gardens of Power and Passion, will air this … Continue reading
Monty Don’s French Gardens
One of my more exciting projects over the past few months has been providing consultancy advice to a forthcoming BBC TV programme on the history of French gardens, presented by … Continue reading
Flowers or gravel?
How flowery were 17th century French parterres? That was the question put to me last week by the head gardener in charge of one of Le Nôtre’s most beautiful designs. … Continue reading
A mysterious French designer…
Search the internet for Elie Lainé and you’ll readily find that he was a once-celebrated nineteenth century French landscape designer. You’ll learn that he worked on big projects in at … Continue reading
Vaux le Vicomte
On Saturday I led a guided tour of the fabulous estate at Vaux le Vicomte, southeast of Paris, which was the first commission for André Le Nôtre. These are possibly … Continue reading
Springtime parks in Paris II
Here’s another off-the-beaten-track park to enjoy in this glorious spring sunshine. It’s almost the antithesis of yesterday’s recommendation, which was a small, naturalistic, nineteenth century park in the northwest of … Continue reading
The essence of gardens
Sometimes the most poignant qualities of a site come not from what is actually there, but from what is connected to it, through time and space, by our recollections and … Continue reading
Villandry in winter
Villandry has been called ‘the finest potager in the world.’ For much of the year its beds are a mass of vegetables, from soft herbs and jewelled beetroot to blowsy … Continue reading
Simple winter pleasures at musée Albert Kahn
A recent post praised the January drabness of two Paris gardens. It seemed to strike something of a chord, so today I offer another place where winter is at her … Continue reading
Potager du Roi: from stinky pond to king’s kitchen
When Louis XIV decided in 1678 that he wanted a potager (kitchen garden) near his palace in Versailles, where he could bring visitors to admire the abundant produce, the site … Continue reading
Pre-existing memories of Giverny
An exhibition of Monet’s work opened this week at the Grand Palais. It is the first retrospective of his paintings for around 30 years in Paris, where he remains resolutely … Continue reading
Modern heritage with a capital ‘M’
This weekend is Les Journées du Patrimoine, French Heritage Open Days, and one of the buildings involved is Le Corbusier’s masterpiece the Villa Savoye in Poissy, northeast of Paris. We … Continue reading
The Cheshire Cat at Versailles
From tomorrow, the chateau of Versailles is hosting an exhibition by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. He describes himself as like the Cheshire Cat, guiding the visitor through the wonderland of … Continue reading
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