The Gardens at Castle Howard - Hardcover

Kipling, Mike

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0711231435 ISBN 13: 9780711231436

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2011

Synopsis

In keeping with the grandeur of the house, the grounds at Castle Howard in Yorkshire were designed on an heroic scale. The result of the fruitful collaboration between the 3rd Earl of Carlisle and the architects John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, they were laid out in the early eighteenth century with sculpture, waterworks and an astonishing array of monuments. They are also rich in variety, with subsequent additions including a Victorian parterre designed by W.A. Nesfield, walled rose gardens, herbaceous borders and a potager.

Given free access to this 1,000-acre landscape, Mike Kipling has photographed it in its many moods - in the summer light that brings the detail of the scene into sharp focus and on misty days in winter when a more mysterious atmosphere pervades. Through his skilled eye we see here vistas across lakes and ponds; Ray Wood and its serpentine pathways; the five-mile Avenue with its mock fortifications; the Temple of the Four Winds, the domed Mausoleum, the Atlas Fountain and other memorable sights.

Turning his lens, too, to the planting - the carpet of snowdrops that are the first signs of the garden's awakening after winter, its abundant daffodils, its exceptional collections of rhododendrons and azaleas, and of 2,000 roses - Kipling has captured the beauty and magnificence of this spectacular place, which delights visitors with perpetual drama and event throughout the year.

About this title

About the Authors

Mike Kipling comes from Scarborough, and having studied town planning at Newcastle University, became Assistant Area Planning Officer at Richmond. But in 1996 he decided to become a photographer, and now has one of the largest practices in the north of England where his work is widely published. He lives in Guisborough, Cleveland.

Christopher Ridgeway has been curator at Castle Howard since 1985, and has written and lectured widely on its architecture, gardens and collections.

The Hon. Simon Howard lives at Castle Howard with his wife Rebecca and their twins Merlin and Octavia.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The landscape of Castle Howard has always been characterized by change of many kinds, from the dramatic transformation that accompanies the

arrival of each season to the repeated refashioning of the terrain during the three centuries since it was first laid out in the early eighteenth century; today there are even moments when the gardens change on a day-to-day basis, as a hedge is clipped or a tree felled, or when big events are staged at Castle Howard and the grounds are strangely altered by all the accoutrements of mass entertainment. Yet were Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle (1669–1738), the man responsible for the creation of this heroic landscape, to emerge from a time machine today he would still recognize the surroundings of his magnificent Baroque mansion.

The landscape bears witness to alterations in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and even in the brief span of the third millennium it has already experienced further alteration in the form of improvement and restoration. Yet, in spite of generations of family intervention, much remains

intact. In that respect it would be truer to say that the landscape of Castle Howard has been characterized by a balance of continuity and change: it is not

a landscape frozen in the past, but nor has it abandoned that past. While this dynamic of change means that Castle Howard has to be understood through time, its greatest appeal lies in the sheer scale of the terrain. To walk through the landscape here is to experience a multitude of sensations. The feet measure the physical distance; the eyes focus on things near or far; there are subtle smells in the atmosphere all year round; there are the sounds of wildlife, running water and wind in the trees; and even the silence at Castle Howard seems to have a special quality.

Edition details

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0711231435
• ISBN 13: 9780711231436
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 112