Polite Landscapes: Gardens & Society in Eighteenth-Century England

The changing appearance of gentlemans' pleasure grounds reflects changing attitudes to politics, society and much else. Parks and gardens were homes, farms and forestry enterprises, as weft as being pictures: their form was molded by the needs of hunting, riding and other recreational activities as much as by the writings of philosophers and aesthetes. Fully illustrated with contemporary maps and plans, and with paintings and photographs, this text will make fascinating reading for everyone with a serious enthusiasm for gardens, parks, great houses and the English landscape.