A survey of the gardens and landscape settings of the great country houses of Britain, many of them in the care of the National Trust. Placed in a context of evolving architectural style, garden fashion and contemporary thought, this book would appeal to all country house admirers. The author focuses on the details of individual garden features together with a wider appreciation of overall design demonstrating the changing philosophical attitudes to nature that have made the great gardens of the past as rich and complex a mirror of history as the houses they surround.