A Grand Tour of Gardens: Traveling in Beauty through Western Europe and the United States

by Anne Sinkler Whaley LeClercq

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611171778
Publisher:	University of South Carolina Press
Publication date:	07/23/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Anne Sinkler Whaley LeClercq has retired as the director of the Daniel Library at the Citadel. She holds a master's degree in librarianship from Emory University and a J.D. from the University of Tennessee. LeClercq is editor of Between North and South: The Letters of Emily Wharton Sinkler, 1842–1865 and Elizabeth Sinkler Coxe's Tales from the Grand Tour, 1890–1910, and she is the author of An Antebellum Plantation Household: Including the South Carolina Low Country Receipts and Remedies of Emily Wharton Sinkler.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations x

Acknowledgments xiii

Prologue 1

Part I An Overview: Visiting and Enjoying Gardens 5

Gardening as Art and Entertainment Emily Whaley 7

Rules of the Road When Traveling and a Visit to Dunrobin Garden 9

Part 2 Italian Gardens: From Renaissance Inspiration to Romantic Intuition 15

Finding Inspiration and Art in the Gardens of Palermo, Sicily 17

Visiting Shops and Gardens on Lake Como 20

Italy: Gardening and Dining by the Sea 23

Discovering Lucca, an Italian Walled City 27

Ninfa: A Romantic Italian Garden 30

The Amalfi Coast: Positano, Ravello, and Capri 33

Italian Renaissance Gardens: A Day Trip from Rome 36

Visiting Gardens near Florence: Villa Le Balze, Villa Gamberaia, Villa I Tatti, the Boboli Gardens, and La Pietra 40

Tuscan Gardens: Villa Chigi Cetinale and Villa La Foce 45

A Tale of Two Cities: Taormina and Venice 48

Part 3 Switzerland: The Art of Seasonal Gardening 51

Summer Gardens in Switzerland 55

The Swiss Alps in July, with a Surprise Visit to Lake Maggiore, Italy 57

Part 4 French Classical Elegance 61

The Joy of French Gardens: From the Dordogne to the Île de France 65

Monet's Garden 69

France: In Our Own Car 71

The Atlantic Coast of France: Off the Beaten Track 75

Part 5 A Plantsman's Paradise: England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland 79

Chewton Glen and Exbury Garden, England 83

Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Buscot Park, and Waddesdon Manor, England 85

Stourhead and the Danesfield House Hotel, England 88

Gravetye Manor and William Robinson, England 90

West Dean Gardens and Lainston House Hotel, England 94

Mapperton House, Montacute House, and Barrington Court, England 96

Newby Hall, Castle Howard, and Middlethorpe Hall, England 99

Levens Hall and Sharrow Bay Hotel, England 102

Edinburgh and Prestonfield House, Scotland: A Base for Discovering the Borders 105

Broughton House, Culzean Castle, and Hill House, Scotland 108

July Gardens in Scotland 112

"Oh, My Ireland of Dreams!" 115

Bodysgallen, Bodnant, and Powis Castle, Wales 119

Part 6 Germany: From the Island of Rügen to the Bavarian Mountains 123

Inspiration for a Fall Garden: Insel Mainau and Lake Constance 127

A Summer Visit to the Island of Rügen on the Baltic Sea 129

Berlin: The Heart of the New Germany 131

Germany: Schloss Linderhof, Ettal Cloister, and Oberammergau 133

Part 7 Iberia: The Moorish Influence 135

Christmas in Majorca 139

The Spanish Costa del Sol: Marbella Club Hotel and a Side Trip to Granada 143

Traveling to Madeira 146

Part 8 Discovering Garden Spots Closer to Home 149

Biltmore, North Carolina: An Estate for All Seasons 153

The Orchard Inn: A Mountain Destination in Saluda, North Carolina 157

Beyond Miami: Coral Gables, Vizcaya, and the Biltmore Hotel 159

Beyond Disney: A Taste of Florida's Orlando 163

An Adventure in Art: Cà d'Zan, the Ringling Estate in Sarasota, Florida 167

Touring the Hudson River Valley in Fall 170

Visiting Philadelphia 174

Finding an Angel in New Orleans, and Diversions along the Way 176

Epilogue: Stories and Memories 179

Suggestions for Further Reading 187

Index 189

What People are Saying About This

Louisa Pringle Cameron

LeClercq gives us a feast for the senses as she and her intrepid husband explore a potpourri of the finest gardens in Western Europe, the British Isles, Ireland, and the eastern United States. Her descriptions are observant down to the smallest details. Full of history and anecdotes, this personal exploration of beautiful environments is full of inspiration, artistic perception, delight in nature, and joie de vivre.

Rosamund Wallinger

This is an inspiring and original tour of Europe's gardens. LeClercq has written an entertaining and well-researched book that describes not only some of our best gardens but adds useful information on surrounding countryside, where to stay and the history of her chosen gardens.

Editorial Reviews

LeClercq gives us a feast for the senses as she and her intrepid husband explore a potpourri of the finest gardens in Western Europe, the British Isles, Ireland, and the eastern United States. Her descriptions are observant down to the smallest details. Full of history and anecdotes, this personal exploration of beautiful environments is full of inspiration, artistic perception, delight in nature, and joie de vivre.


Louisa Pringle Cameron, author of The Private Gardens of Charleston and The Secret Gardens of Charleston




This is an inspiring and original tour of Europe's gardens. LeClercq has written an entertaining and well-researched book that describes not only some of our best gardens but adds useful information on surrounding countryside, where to stay and the history of her chosen gardens.


Rosamund Wallinger, author of Gertrude Jekyll's Lost Garden and owner of the world s finest restored Gertrude Jekyll gardens

From the Publisher