Category Archives: Garden visits

Borders, and a shed for the Autumn

Posted on October 2, 2012 by

I’ve just come back from Yorkshire – the South Pennines, Brontë country – a wonderful landscape of moors and hills studded with stone-built towns and villages and mills- some abandoned, some still in use adapted to modern industry, converted to … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden visits | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A garden by the sea

Posted on June 12, 2012 by

If seaside gardening is meant to be difficult, and limit the choice of plants, Gertrude Jekyll didn’t know. You can hardly get more ‘seaside’ than Lindisfarne, the Holy Island of Northumbria, for most of the day there is sea nearby … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden visits | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hortus conclusus, The Serpentine Pavillion 2011

Posted on October 10, 2011 by

Sitting here on a wild October day, watching 40 mph gusts of wind blow through the birches round my garden, it is lovely to remember the shelter and intimacy of Peter Zumthor’s 2011 Serpentine Pavillion – a Hortus conclusus of … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden visits | Leave a comment

Gardens of the Real Alcazar, part 2

Posted on July 2, 2011 by

The ‘historic’ gardens of the Real Alacazar, which I wrote about in first part of this blog are all to do with close integration of indoor and outdoor space in Moorish/Mudejar design. Close to the palace there is a wall … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden visits | 1 Comment

Paradise indeed – The Gardens of the Real Alcazar, Seville, part 1

Posted on June 18, 2011 by

If you want to understand the long-term influence of the Islamic garden on European garden styles, a visit to the Real Alcazar of Seville will give you both a master class in design history and a walk-through lesson that will … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden visits | Leave a comment