From Italy to Switzerland, Germany to Spain, and Philadelphia to New Orleans, Anne Sinkler Whaley LeClercq describes the beauty of different historic gardens in this collection of essays. A Grand Tour of Gardens: Traveling in Beauty through Western Europe and the United States showcases her excursions to historic gardens around the world. Through her own experiences LeClercq enables the garden adventurer to anticipate the world of color, design, and horticulture in each magnificent garden described here. The essays in A Grand Tour of Gardens are filled with history, plant lore, anecdote, and high-society gossip of the most famous public and private gardens of the United States and Europe.
A Grand Tour of Gardens begins with an essay by LeClercq's mother, the late Emily Whaley. "Gardening as Art and Entertainment" discusses Whaley's iconic garden on Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina, and its other gardens that she knew and describes here. For every garden visited, LeClercq vividly details new combinations of horticultural art forms and enlivens the reader's imagination. Traveling to Claude Monet's Garden at Giverny, France; Frederick Law Olmstead's Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; and the garden of Beatrice Rothschild on the Cote d'Azure, LeClercq features these gardens in words and illustrations. A Grand Tour of Gardens serves as a roadmap for viewing gardens worldwide and provides a set of rubrics for assessing design elements of each garden. The tips shared in these essays provide a visitor with the tools for deciphering the "language" of a nursery. In eight fun-filled chapters, A Grand Tour of Gardens takes the reader on a worldwide visit to the discovery of historic gardens as a source of art, inspiration, and entertainment.
- Cover
- CONTENTS
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Prologue
- PART 1 An Overview: Visiting and Enjoying Gardens
- Gardening as Art and Entertainment
- Rules of the Road When Traveling and a Visit to Dunrobin Garden
- PART 2 Italian Gardens: From Renaissance Inspiration to Romantic Intuition
- Finding Inspiration and Art in the Gardens of Palermo, Sicily
- Visiting Shops and Gardens on Lake Como
- Italy: Gardening and Dining by the Sea
- Discovering Lucca, an Italian Walled City
- Ninfa: A Romantic Italian Garden
- The Amalfi Coast: Positano, Ravello, and Capri
- Italian Renaissance Gardens: A Day Trip from Rome
- Visiting Gardens near Florence: Villa Le Balze, Villa Gamberaia, Villa I Tatti, the Boboli Gardens, and La Pietra
- Tuscan Gardens: Villa Chigi Cetinale and Villa La Foce
- A Tale of Two Cities: Taormina and Venice
- PART 3 Switzerland: The Art of Seasonal Gardening
- Summer Gardens in Switzerland
- The Swiss Alps in July, with a Surprise Visit to Lake Maggiore, Italy
- PART 4 French Classical Elegance
- The Joy of French Gardens: From the Dordogne to the Île de France
- Monet’s Garden
- France: In Our Own Car
- The Atlantic Coast of France: Off the Beaten Track
- PART 5 A Plantsman’s Paradise: England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland
- Chewton Glen and Exbury Garden, England
- Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Buscot Park, and Waddesdon Manor, England
- Stourhead and the Danesfield House Hotel, England
- Gravetye Manor and William Robinson, England
- West Dean Gardens and Lainston House Hotel, England
- Mapperton House, Montacute House, and Barrington Court, England
- Newby Hall, Castle Howard, and Middlethorpe Hall, England
- Levens Hall and Sharrow Bay Hotel, England
- Edinburgh and Prestonfield House, Scotland: A Base for Discovering the Borders
- Broughton House, Culzean Castle, and Hill House, Scotland
- July Gardens in Scotland
- “Oh, My Ireland of Dreams!”
- Bodysgallen, Bodnant, and Powis Castle, Wales
- PART 6 Germany: From the Island of Rügen to the Bavarian Mountains
- Inspiration for a Fall Garden: Insel Mainau and Lake Constance
- A Summer Visit to the Island of Rügen on the Baltic Sea
- Berlin: The Heart of the New Germany
- Germany: Schloss Linderhof, Ettal Cloister, and Oberammergau
- PART 7 Iberia: The Moorish Influence
- Christmas in Majorca
- The Spanish Costa del Sol: Marbella Club Hotel and a Side Trip to Granada
- Traveling to Madeira
- PART 8 Discovering Garden Spots Closer to Home
- Biltmore, North Carolina: An Estate for All Seasons
- The Orchard Inn: A Mountain Destination in Saluda, North Carolina
- Beyond Miami: Coral Gables, Vizcaya, and the Biltmore Hotel
- Beyond Disney: A Taste of Florida’s Orlando
- An Adventure in Art: Cà d’Zan, the Ringling Estate in Sarasota, Florida
- Touring the Hudson River Valley in Fall
- Visiting Philadelphia
- Finding an Angel in New Orleans, and Diversions along the Way
- Epilogue: Stories and Memories
- SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
- INDEX
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