Search results for ""Author Sarah Rutherford""

The Landscape Garden: the quiet but startling national revolution that overthrew the parterres, avenues and canals of formal European-style gardens littering Britain in the eighteenth century. Thousands of landscape gardens were created for the wealthy, often looking so natural that we hardly recognise them as the hand of man. Steered by brilliant designers and visionary owners, the fashion for landscape gardens took hold across the country. Using water, grass and trees, designers softened lines and created seemingly natural planted park landscapes. Landscape gardens were on a huge scale, and all the work was done by hand. By the 1750s this had developed into the landscape park and garden epitomised by ‘Capability’ Brown, the most famous of the eighteenth-century garden designers. In this book by garden historian Sarah Rutherford, discover Britain’s greatest contribution to the visual arts worldwide. This book is part of the Britain’s Heritage series, which provides definitive introductions to the riches of Britain’s past, and is the perfect way to get acquainted with landscape gardens in all their variety.

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The Arts and Crafts Movement espoused values of simplicity, craftsmanship and beauty quite counter to Victorian and Edwardian industrialism. Though most famous for its architecture, furniture and ornamental work, between the 1890s and the 1930s the movement also produced gardens all over Britain whose designs, redolent of a lost golden era, had worldwide influence. These designs, by luminaries such as Gertrude Jekyll and Sir Edwin Lutyens, were engaging and romantic combinations of manor-house garden formalism and the naive charms of the cottage garden – but from formally clipped topiary to rugged wild borders, nothing was left to chance. Sarah Rutherford here explores the winding paths and meticulously shaped hedges, the gazebos and gateways, the formal terraces and the billowing border plantings that characterised the Arts and Crafts garden, and directs readers and gardeners to where they can visit and be inspired by these beautiful works of art.

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Garden Cities: the phrase is redolent of Arts and Crafts values and nineteenth-century utopianism. But despite being the culmination of a range of influential movements, and their own influence, in fact there were only ever two true garden cities in England – far more numerous were garden suburbs and villages. Crystallised in England by social visionary Ebenezer Howard and designed in many cases by Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, the concept arose from industrial settlements like Port Sunlight, and also from the American City Beautiful movement. Designed to promote healthy and comfortable individual and community life, as well as commerce and industry, they remain instantly recognisable. This book is a beautifully illustrated guide to the movement and to the communities which are its legacy. Sarah Rutherford has an MA in the conservation of historic parks and gardens and a PhD. She was Head of the English Heritage Historic Parks and Gardens Register and is now a freelance consultant, creating conservation plans.

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A fascinating look at the life, influences, techniques and works of 18th-century landscape gardener Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. His transformation of unpromising countryside into beautiful parks changed the face of a nation and created a landscape style which for many of us defines the English countryside. One of the most remarkable men of the 18th century, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown was known to many as ‘The Omnipotent Magician’ who could transform unpromising countryside into beautiful parks that seemed to be only the work of nature. His list of clients included half the House of Lords, six Prime Ministers and even royalty. Although his fame has dimmed, we still enjoy many of his works today at National Trust properties such as Croome Park, Petworth, Berrington, Stowe, Wimpole, Blenheim Palace, Highclere Castle (location of the ITV series Downton Abbey) and many more. In Capability Brown, author and garden historian Sarah Rutherford tells his triumphant story, uncovers his aims and reveals why he was so successful. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs of contemporary sites, historical paintings and garden plans, this is an accessible book for anyone who wants to know more about the man who changed the face of the nation and created a landscape style which for many of us defines the English countryside.

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