It should all be so easy. Much of the attraction of places like Hidcote is that visitors can relate to the scale and planting of the Arts and Crafts ‘rooms’ and copy and transpose them into their own smaller gardens. … Continue reading
I have always thought that there was something curiously contemporary about the Water Garden at Studley Royal. It seems to have more in common with modern British landscapes than with Le Notre’s work at Versailles or Chantilly built just a … Continue reading
From time to time a new garden opens to the public that grabs the headlines, and back in 2003 Scampston Walled Garden certainly did that. It is a garden that I should have been to a long time ago, but … Continue reading
I first visited Park Guell, designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi in the last dark days of Franco’s rule, before a resurgent Catalonia and before Barcelona had become a hip tourist destination. Then the park was a sleepy and … Continue reading
Set in a remote corner of the Cotswolds lies two of England’s most memorable gardens, yet the contrast between Hidcote and Kiftsgate Court couldn’t be greater. The National Trust markets Hidcote (I think controversially) as ‘The 20th century’s most influential … Continue reading
Parking next to a family just leaving, I was witness to a small girl’s red-faced tantrum, accompanied by much stamping of feet. ‘But Mummy, we’ve just adopted it, ….WHY can’t I take it home?’ I looked quizzically at the exasperated … Continue reading