The Most Glorious Prospect author talk at Picton Castle

• Publisher: Graffeg
• Publication: October 2017
• Format: Hardback, 256 pages; Price: £30
• Size: 250 x 250mm
• ISBN: 9781910862629

• Author talk and book signing at P icton Castle on
Saturday 21 April 11am-12.30.pm .Bettina Harden
will be in conversation withTom Lloyd, OBE, FSA,
talking about the research behind her book,  concentrating on the history of Picton Castle and  other gardens in Pembrokeshire.

• Visit 16 historic gardens: Chirk Castle, Margam Abbey,  Powis Castle, Llanerch Park, Dynevor Park, Picton  Castle, Wynnstay, Plas Newydd (Anglesey), Baron Hill,
Penrhyn Castle & The Penrhyn Estate, Stackpole Court,  Hafod, Plas Tan y Bwlch, Plas Newydd (Llangollen),  Piercefield, Bodnant Hall

The Most Glorious Prospect reveals the historic gardens of Wales as first experienced by contemporary visitors during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Return to a bygone era of garden visiting and touring, brought to life from travellers’ diaries, letters and journals of the period. Explore the history and tradition of ‘garden visiting’ during 1639-1900 and the beginnings of Welsh tourism.

Brilliantly documented and delightfully humorous, this account describes how the great gardens of Wales were first made accessible to the ‘polite world’ before being opened to a wider, middle-class audience.

The book offers a new insight into the social history of the period, with the upper classes following in the tradition of ‘The Grand Tour of Europe’ and basing their routes around the spectacularly designed landscapes The Tour inspired. The popularity of garden visiting gave rise to a number of articles, books and guides – the foundation to future tourism in Wales.

This is an essential read and reference book for anyone interested in the heritage of Wales, the social and economic lifestyles of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the lasting significance of the country houses and estates created by its landowners.

Generously illustrated with over 200 period paintings, engravings and drawings, this first edition hardback features work from some of the most important collections of British art, many published for the first time.

‘Bettina Harden has scoured nearly three hundred years of garden and landscape writing to forge these colourful and comprehensive surveys of the greatest sixteen gardens and parks in Wales which she sets before us here. This book is a culmination of that desire to share and of half a lifetime’s research.’
Thomas Lloyd OBE,
FSA Author of The Lost Houses of Wales

‘We should never forget that gardens are about
people, those makers who created them with such
ambition and determination, and the writers
whose sharp curiosity helped form our opinions of
them. Bettina Harden writes about these people
with a sense of fun and effortless scholarship, to
produce a compelling picture of Welsh historic
gardens…History is rarely so readable.’
Stephen Anderton, The Times