Overview

This beautifully produced volume, the outcome of many decades of research, is a celebration of Norfolk’s particularly rich heritage of parks and gardens. It provides a detailed exploration of the history of gardening and landscape architecture in the county, from the geometric gardens of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, through the landscape parks of the eighteenth century and the civic spaces of the nineteenth, to the emergence of modern ideas of ecological and ‘minimalist’ garden design. It describes in detail more than three hundred of the most beautiful and significant gardens and designed landscapes in the county. Many of these were the work of famous designers such as Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, Humphry Repton, Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, but others were made by more obscure professionals, or were lovingly created by gifted amateurs, plantsmen and women. Vast and complex landscapes like Houghton or Holkham are discussed and illustrated, but also many small, private gems in town and country. Lavishly illustrated throughout in full colour, and with an introduction by the distinguished landscape and garden historian Tom Williamson, Norfolk Gardens and Designed Landscapes will be essential reading for all those interested in the history of the county and its landscape, and in the history of gardens more generally.

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9781911188308

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Reviews

There is a captivating balance between historical facts and contemporary descriptions... In the future this book will become a precious snapshot of a county rich in heritage and garden design.--Ursula Cholmeley The Garden (04/01/2014) hundreds of atmospheric photographs [that] help to bring the detailed text to vivid life and contribute substantially to the extremely handsome end result.--Tim Longville Hortus The book is a mine of fascinating information about significant Norfolk Gardens and their creators, and a useful introduction to the wider history and development of English gardens.--Widget Finn Gardens Illustrated an essential guide to, and gazetteer of, the county's gardens and designed landscapes.--Richard Wilson Historic House, Autumn 2014 The book is a valuable resource to anyone interested in the holistic history of the designed landscape. It is is Pevsner and more.--Marian Boswall Topiarius, Vol. 18, Summer 2014

One of the first lessons that's drummed into you when a young journalist is to avoid superlatives... Well, I'm going to stick my neck out right now and say that this must be the best book on the subject ever produced. Everything about it says quality, from its heft... to the authority and clarity of its writing, the subject of many years' research. -- Trevor Heaton * Eastern Daily Press *

One of the first lessons that's drummed into you when a young journalist is to avoid superlatives… Well, I'm going to stick my neck out right now and say that this must be the best book on the subject ever produced. Everything about it says quality, from its heft… to the authority and clarity of its writing, the subject of many years' research. * Eastern Daily Press *

Author Information

Tom Williamson is Professor of Landscape History at the University of East Anglia. He has written widely on landscape archaeology, environmental history and the history of landscape design.

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