The English Garden: A Journey through its History

Garden design in England was entirely reinvented during the eighteenth century. The symmetrical gardens of the French Baroque were replaced by artificial landscapes almost indistinguishable from natural scenery, and this image conceived by English landscape gardeners continues to govern modern ideas of natural beauty. Hans von Trotha's journey through the history of the English garden introduces twelve of the most important, original, and beautiful parks in Britain. On the way, he explains how the new landscape garden was born of the spirit of political opposition, explores the significance of imitation Greek temples and Gothic ruins, and muses on the relevance of eighteenth-century ideas to our appreciation of landscape today.