A01=Timothy Mowl
alfresco entertainment
Author_Timothy Mowl
Category=AMX
Category=NHD
Category=WMD
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_home-garden
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
forthcoming
garden history
grottoes
horticulture
Humphry Repton
Jane Austen
ornamental gardening
pleasure gardens
Regency period
shrubberies
Product details
- ISBN 9781836392484
- Dimensions: 190 x 250mm
- Publication Date: 10 Aug 2026
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Regency gardens dazzled with colour, invention and theatricality: trellises heavy with roses and jasmine, shrubberies designed for intrigue and lawns enlivened with pools, grottoes and fanciful ornaments. Yet behind this world of perfume and spectacle lay a striking social shift. In a domain long defined by men, women began to play an active role, influencing Humphry Repton and other designers to realize their visions of pleasure grounds. These gardens became stages for al fresco entertainments, displays of taste and private encounters alike. This book offers the first sustained account of ornamental gardening in Regency Britain, revealing a vivid, feminine-inflected landscape where horticulture, fashion and sociability intertwined – and where artistry still resonates two centuries later.
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.
