Stockwood Park is a large urban park in Luton, Bedfordshire near to Junction 10 of the M1 motorway and is acclaimed for its period formal gardens, leading crafts museums and extensive golfing facilities. Museums Stockwood Craft Museum is housed in the 18th century stables of the former Stockwood House and the setting is well suited [...]
Torosay is a spectacular 150 year old Scottish baronial style castle surrounded by magnificent and unique gardens, just a mile from the ferry pier at Craignure on the south- east of the Isle of Mull. Connected by its very own narrow gauge steam railway, the castle and gardens have become a ‘must see’ attraction for [...]
The Palacio de Generalife (Arabic: Jannat al-’Arif – Architect’s Garden) was the summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid sultans of Granada. The palace and gardens were built during the reign of Muhammad III (1302-1309) and redecorated shortly after by Abu I-Walid Isma’il (1313-1324). The complex consists of the Patio de la Acequia (Court [...]
A seventeenth century chateau with a 50 hectare park and gardens, restored in the late 1980s and early 90s, with excellent views over the Oise valley. There are terraces, parterres, a gazebo and orangerie. Each year, an artist is commissioned to produce a work for the north terrace.
The royal Château at Amboise is a château located in Amboise, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. Built on a promontory overlooking the Loire River to control a strategic ford that was replaced in the Middle Ages by a bridge, the château began its life in the eleventh century, when the [...]
Modernist principles were used to create a large forest (bos) park near Amsterdam. The plan, which can be viewed as an abstract painting, was the work of two architects (C van Esteren and J H Mulder), influenced by a biologist (Dr J P Thijsse) on the public works committee which controlled the project. Van Esteren [...]
Few gardens make such spectacular use of tranquil water as Chantilly. A castle was built on a rock in a marshy forest, with the lake serving as a moat. A renaissance garden was made (c 1550) and transformed into the present high baroque garden by Andre le Notre in 1663. Water, aggrandised by design, remains [...]
Jardin du Carrousel is the official name for the space around the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, built to celebrate Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz (a carrousel is a horse parade). Jacques Wirtz was landscape architect for the space around the arch. It looks entirely appropriate on plan but is less successful on the ground. Strips [...]
The farm of Bois Richeux, situated in the heart of the Carnutes’ Forest, is one of the oldest farms in France, dating back to Celtic times. In 1178, it became the Villa Franche of the Chapter of Chartres and hosted the first free farmers. Throughout the entire Middle Ages, it was an important fortified farm, [...]
The Bamboo Plantation is here not only to let you discover, learn about and appreciate just bamboo, but all vegetal life. Run by a management that thinks that a botanical garden is not just a collection of rare plants, the Bambouseraie brings together people, facilitates exchanges, crossing cultures and linking knowledge. In this spirit, the [...]
