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
Abbotsbury Sub-Tropical Gardens
“Garden of the Year” is a strange award, and one that for me has led to disappointment and even bafflement. So I am delighted today to have a guest post … Continue reading
Stourhead: the wrong kind of history?
Stourhead is one of the finest examples of an English landscape garden. Inspired by politics, travel, literature and painting, the eighteenth century English landscape movement introduced a radical new style of naturalistic garden … Continue reading
Preserving Seaton Delaval Hall
There are a plethora of possible treatments available for historic properties. Experts talk about preservation, conservation, safeguarding, protection, restoration, adaptive re-use, repair, stabilisation, maintenance, rehabilitation, reconstruction. It can seem baffling. … Continue reading
The London Olympic Park
The start of the World Cup tomorrow has been overshadowed by concerns about the readiness of the infrastructure, and hostility from many Brazilians to their government spending so much money on … Continue reading
West Green House
Redoubtable is a word that easily comes to mind when seeking to describe Marylyn Abbott. In her native Australia, she was for many years marketing manager for the Sydney Opera House … Continue reading
Snotty gogs and tithe maps: the garden at Veddw
Veddw is a modern garden, laid out among the gentle hills of the Welsh borders. It has an unusual genesis: not a plantswoman’s garden, not a gardener’s garden. Instead, its … Continue reading
Juxtaposition
Before on this blog I have written about the mysterious French designer Elie Lainé, and about the placing of modern artworks in historic gardens. So I was delighted to see … Continue reading
The most popular sites in the world
Google has just produced a ‘heatmap‘ of the places people most like to visit. It’s a fascinating if not entirely reliable snapshot of the world’s most popular sites, based on … Continue reading
How naughty we have been
I am delighted to have joined the rosta of writers at ThinkinGardens, a British website eager to encourage serious, stimulating and critical writing about designed landscapes. My first piece is Worthy … Continue reading
A million first steps
As you might expect, the British Library has an extraordinary wealth of archive material, including much that is essential study for the serious landscape historian. Its strap line, with some … Continue reading
Edens beyond the razor wire
The Royal Horticultural Society’s monthly members’ journal The Garden is a predictable mix of plant profiles, gardening tips and lists of UK gardens to visit. It is glossy and pleasant … Continue reading
Northumberlandia
It’s been described as a pagan love goddess, a gesture of environmental stewardship, the largest human figure in the world, an abstraction of the Cheviot hills, a recumbent partner of … Continue reading
Herterton House
Herterton House is a one-acre gem of a place in Northumberland. It has featured on the BBC’s Gardeners World and in national newspapers, and yet remains much less well-known than … Continue reading
The Shakespeare of gardening
The year 2016 will mark three hundred years since the birth of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, and plans are being put in place to celebrate this greatest of England’s landscape designers. … 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
Two empty plinths
The death of former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher last week has led her supporters to cast around for ways to commemorate her. Ideas include a statue in some central … Continue reading
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