Royal Gardens of the World: 21 Celebrated Gardens from the Alhambra to Highgrove and Beyond
£22.90£33.30 (-31%)
In mainland Europe you can journey from the formal splendour of Het Loo in the Netherlands and Fontainebleau in France to the Baroque World Heritage Site of the Royal Palace of Caserta in Southern Italy. Further afield still lies the Taj Mahal in India and the Peterhof Palace in Russia.
Each featured garden will include the history, plantings and evolution of the garden as well as plant portraits of key plants and information about the design and layout of each. Countries included are: England, Scotland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, India, Bali and Japan.
This inspiring global selection of royal gardens is a perfect gift for any gardening enthusiast or armchair traveller and takes the reader on a journey of architecturally significant houses and their classic gardens as well as providing planting ideas that range from modest to grand, simple to ornate.
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Additional information
| Publisher | 1st edition (24 Sept. 2020), Kyle Books |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 240 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0857838016 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0857838018 |
| Dimensions | 24.77 x 2.79 x 29.59 cm |
by L Williams
A gorgeous hardback book full of wonderful gardens from all over world, all differing from each other, some formal and others less so. Very interesting to see such a good selection in one book ( photographs are amazing and beautifully shot) with a wonderful narrative that accompanies each garden. Highly enjoying going through the book and taking my time, it’s very easy to dip in and out. Would highly recommend.
by Mr. S. W. Wilson
A throughly researched, designed beautifully illustrated book about some amazing gardens. Not all of them too ostentatiously formal, either – a good mix. The quality of the photography is stellar – and combined with the very readable narrative makes it a very appealing book for a gift or your own coffee table. Not one for the potting shed…
by Colin Scott
It is an excellent book
by Clare Marden
I am so enjoying Mark Lane’s book on Royal Gardens of the World. In fact, I was reading the description of the trees in the Taj Mahal gardens, when I decided to come up and do this review! I haven’t just learned about the design and origin of the gardens, but also a great deal about the times during which those gardens were created. It has been fascinating reading. I meant to dip in and out of this book, but I’ve found it hard to put down.
Well done Mark!
by Alan Beaman
The selection of gardens worldwide is enthralling although the locations in themselves are diverse and unique the common feature is the precision of the layouts making the best each location has to offer
by Harriet
Given as a present but had a look through before I wrapped it. Lovely looking book – but also really interesting and well written
by mary b
A good book to help plan holidays
by Donna George
The perfect heavy table book with glossy photos with the right mix of history and a touch of current affairs!!!
A bold, sturdy, symbollic, embossed cover adorns the book. Opening the cover reveals a beautiful tree lined view and a similar snow covered tree lined view is repeated on the inside of the back cover – a beautiful surprise given most books are blank, coloured or with writing.
The beautiful title pages offers a peek into what lies ahead – sumptuous, full sized glossy photos of beautiful Royal Gardens in Spain and France. The contents page is perfectly indexed by location, name and page, accompanied by another beautiful photo. Mark introduces his book where gardens as art create discussion and critique.
Each “location” starts off with a beautiful double page glossy photo of the unique Royal garden. A plan of the garden is simplied with notable interests. Each garden has it’s own unique story, which Mark captures perfectly; from key historic events to current day interests in the garden. Several glossy photos are shared, which captures the beauty, design, style and quirkiness of environment. Photos are well annotated.
In each location, we learn of the importance of design, influences and human influencers. Whilst most are designed by Nobility and “designers of the time”, other influential people, such as Presidents, have ‘made their mark’ on the garden over time. For example, in Japan, The Emperor Hirohito banned the use of pesticides and encouraged staff to create insect habitats. He ordered the planting of fruit trees to encourage birds in to the garden. Whilst it seems natural nowadays, it must have been pretty odd having an Emperor ordering staff to cater to wildlife.
In Scotland, The Queen Mother, discovered a romantic castle by the sea with the roof blown off. She bought it and had it restored, which is now the Castle of Mey. Crushed shells were plentiful on the coast, so to keep in with the environment, crushed shell paths were incorporated in to the garden.
Prince Charles, an environmental leader and keen gardener took great interest in shaping Highgrove and has created wonderful ‘rooms’ within the garden, each of different interest and purpose, but embracing as much UK native species and encouraging wildlife as possible.
Little insights like this encourage the reader to keep reading and discover new nuggets of knowledge.
Every page is colourful, uplifting and such a joy to read. Mark has put a lot of time and attention to visit each garden over the years and interviewed around 1,000 staff, gardener, Curator’s, security, historians and other personnel to compile this book. A quality book with a fantastic equilibrium of writing and photos.
I would highly recommend this book for any gardener, garden designer, landscaper, anyone with an interest in history of design or looking for inspiration.
A beautiful book from cover to cover.