Full Description
In The Hands of a Gardener, Sarah Salway conjures up the magic
of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown (1716-83), the man responsible
for reshaping the English landscape as we still know it today. It is
a story of ambition, social change, and many influential women
previously hidden from history.
Contents
Contents
Washing my hands 1
The garden that was never there 2
Chapter 1
How you learn to be Capable 4
And the world keeps turning 6
Written in Water 7
Brown finds the Fens damp and flat, and the people
there backward and flat 8
Reading the Weather 9
Brown is offered a position at Stowe 10
Why not? 11
Brown brings his new wife to Stowe 13
The Gardener's Hands 15
As Lord Cobham drones on and the Worthies stare past
them both 16
Chapter 2
The natural mathematics of change 20
Brown meets yet another Lord just returned from a
Grand Tour 21
Delightful Object 22
Three Riddles written in the style of Georgian Ladies
for Mr Brown's Gardens 23
Brown becomes famous for his earth-coloured Tricorn
hat 24
Across the country, lawns grow 26
The Ha-Ha 27
Brown becomes the King's Gardener 28
The Magic Trick 29
Mrs Brown's defences are breached 30
Brown's Fashionable Water Features take to the Catwalk
32
Mrs Garrick takes up Botany 33
Gloaming 35
Brown has no sense of direction 36
Punctuation in the Park 37
Chapter 3
Brown declares he hasn't finished England yet 40
Vogue, 1782 - September Issue 41
On the Bridge 43
Brown's under-gardener cherishes his plants 44
The Young Duchess walks with Mr Brown to discuss
improvements 45
Spiderweb 48
Slicing and salting beans for preserving 49
Brown dresses a salad 50
Three ways for a Gardener to go Bankrupt 51
A Father's Hands 53
JUMP! 55
The Earl reassures Brown that his work will last 56
No one bothers to wonder what a wolf prays for 57
Views Reflected 58
Tract 59
We're folding sheets when my daughter tells me to find
another interest 60
The garden is closed 61
Selected bibliography 62
Acknowledgements
