The English Garden

Garden design in England was entirely reinvented during the eighteenth century. The strictly symmetrical gardens of the French Baroque were replaced by artificial landscapes that soon became almost indistinguishable from natural scenery. This ideal image of nature conceived by eighteenth-century English landscape gardeners still governs our notion of what constitutes a beautiful landscape today. The English Garden is a journey through the history of the English garden by introducing twelve of the most important, original, and beautiful private parklands in Britain, all of which can be visited today. On the way, readers learn how the new landscape garden was born out of a spirit of political opposition during the period.