How can a garden be so famous yet so little understood, be so vulgar and so magnificent at the same time, and be a symbol of overwhelming power yet so ravishingly intimate? Versailles somehow manages to be all of these … Continue reading
Where to begin? An old wife’s tale is that magpies’ nests are renowned for having a mismatched collection of things that have thrilled those beady little eyes, sometimes things of great value and interest, and others that are brightly coloured … Continue reading
It’s one thing to have a brilliant idea, quite another to make it happen. I spend a lot a lot of time thinking, much of it of the ‘what if’ variety but one of my many failings is that most … Continue reading
I doubt that the IXXth is a great arrondisement in which to live, but if I ever moved to Paris I would want Parc des Buttes Chaumont to be my neighbourhood park. It is curious, wacky and sublimely picturesque. … Continue reading
Paris has its many grands projects, and although Parc Andre Citroen may be one of the lesser ones, 20 years after its creation it has become a discarded trinket. An international competition, a critically acclaimed brilliant design opening to a … Continue reading
For too long I have been pussyfooting around avoiding the big beasts of the garden world. Time to man up, Richard. Villa d’Este is to my mind Italy’s finest, and one of the world’s greatest gardens, and words and pictures … Continue reading