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.
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