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  A fascinating study of gender, social mores, design and horticulture in Regency gardens. In a domain dominated by men, women began to play an active role, influencing Humphry Repton and other designers to realise their visions of pleasure grounds – as stages for al fresco entertainments, displays of taste and private encounters.

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  Gardens Illustrated: Recommended Reads

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  An excellent book on an important but neglected period in garden history. Mowl, as usual, has researched his topic well and writes beautifully, using evidence and example to great effect.

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  Tom Williamson, author of Humphry Repton: Landscape Design in an Age of Revolution

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  Impeccably researched and elegantly written, this beautiful book is a must for anyone interested in historic gardens, in Jane Austen’s England or in British cultural history.

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  Steven Parissien, author of Regency Style and Building Britannia

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  An absolute delight from beginning to end. Timothy Mowl has brought the Regency garden to life in all of its extravagant and ethereal beauty.

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  Adrian Tinniswood, author of The Long Weekend and The Power and the Glory

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  Timothy Mowl’s deeply researched book soaks the reader in the hedonistic spirit of the Regency period and explores how this was expressed in its complex ornamental gardens and pleasure grounds. The essential symbiotic relationship of house and garden and views between them is central to this story, as are all the styles at play, so we can enjoy a dazzling confection of everything from Chinese to Moorish, from Italianate to Gothic. This book is a highly entertaining read with a serious message about what has been forgotten in the story of the English garden.

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  Jeremy Musson, architectural historian and author, and Chair of the Historic Houses Foundation

Introduction: Regency Eclecticism and the Culture of Excess
One: The Great Improver: Humphry Repton’s Flower Gardens
Two: Jane Austen and Assignations in the Shrubbery
Three: John Buonarotti Papworth and Ornamental Gardening
Four: A Prince in Search of a Wife
Five: Cottage Ornés and the Siren Call of the Sea
Six: A Taste for Towers: The Lure of Italy
Conclusion: Dandies at the Great Carousal

References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index

Timothy Mowl is Emeritus Professor of History of Architecture and Designed Landscapes at the University of Bristol. He is the author of more than thirty books on architectural and garden history.