This Other Eden

Book excerpt: THIS OTHER EDEN is a captivating narrative of seven great gardens, beautiful canvases that represent not just pleasure grounds but a country's evolution. Showpieces of grand design, they are also barometers of social change; lasting reflections of intellectual endeavour, of religion and philosophy, science and technology, art and literature. From Robert Cecil's garden at Hatfield House, conceived by the famous botanist and plant-collector John Tradescant, who travelled widely to seek out unusual specimens, to Capability Brown, who 'improved' upon nature to create the archetypal English parkland; from Joseph Paxton, whose engineering feats at Chatsworth mirrored the great Victorian age of technology, to Getrude Jekyll, who turned back to nature and designed the English cottage garden renowned the world over, this beautifully illustrated book will join the ranks of other bestselling cultural histories of the garden such as Anna Pavord's THE TULIP and Simon Schama's THE EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES.