The Gardens and Parks at Hampton Court Palace

Book excerpt: Hampton Court Palace has the finest Baroque park and garden layout in Britain. Set within 2,000 acres of parkland and bounded on its south and east sides by the River Thames, the historic landscape possesses a rich overlay of garden improvements from the early sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries. This book explores the history of this landscape. Among the many themes it addresses are the role and impact of patrons, designers and estate workers; planting and horticultural techniques; statuary, fountains and other garden ornaments; and maintenance and conservation. The photographs that accompany the text, by acclaimed photographer Vivian Russell, constitute the most comprehensive topographical survey of the palace's gardens since the late eighteenth century.