Lavishly illustrated study of nearly 100 gardens in Derbyshire from the fabulously wealthy stately home to the smallest hidden delights; considers the importance of gardens in Derbyshire Spa towns; discusses the role of inherited and new wealth of the industrial revolution on the design of both private estates and public gardens
William Kent (1685-1748) was great without a hint of gravitas, a con man who became one of the artistic geniuses of his age. He was a high camp Yorkshire bachelor, brought back by Lord Burlington from an artistic apprenticeship in Rome where he had painted for a cardinal and won prizes from a pope.
Staffordshire is usually associated with the Potteries and the Black Country, the industrial heartland of the Midlands, yet it is also a county of gently rolling landscape with some of the most eccentric gardens in the country.