Monthly Archives: July 2017

Batty’s arti-natural Principles

Posted on 29/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

The wonderfully named Batty Langley was a gardener’s son who followed in his fathers footsteps and then turned surveyor, landscape gardener, artificial stone maker, would-be architect and garden designer, as well as prolific author. Well he had to do something … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Addison, alexander pope, baroque, batty langley, ha ha, kitchen garden, parterre, pattern books, rococo, Stephen Switzer, Twickenham Park, Versailles | Leave a comment

Recording Britain

Posted on 22/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

War inspires artists,or rather requires artists, to produce propaganda, and many governments have used war artists to record a different take on what is going on to newscasts and documentary films. Usually this is strident, but on other occasions much … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged john Piper, Kenneth Clark | Leave a comment

Peter Smithers: Plantsman, Politician & Floral Pornographer

Posted on 15/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

Sir Peter Smithers [1913-2006] was an intelligence officer, a Tory politician, diplomat and above all a great gardener. “I regard gardening and planting as the other half of life, a counterpoint to the rough and tumble of politics,” he wrote. During his … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged greenhouse, nerines, orchids, peonies, plant breeding, Royal Horticultural Society, vico morcote, water gardens, winchester | Leave a comment

Hulne Priory

Posted on 08/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

Sometimes you visit a historic house or garden and think to yourself…. I could live here. Sometimes you have second thoughts and add …if only it wasn’t so remote or inhospitable a setting. That was certainly my reactions on visiting Hulne … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Capability Brown, Coade, Deer Park, james Paine, Mediaeval, menagerie, Northumberland, Picturesque, Robert Adam, tourism | Leave a comment

Sussex by La Manche?

Posted on 01/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens are one of the great combos of design history. Their names automically trip off the tongue in the same breath, and they created a whole series of magificant houses and gardens all across the Britain. … Continue reading →