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Synopsis
About 35 minutes from London, tucked in a corner between the M25 and the A3, and somehow miraculously unscathed, is one of the most astonishing landscapes to have been produced in the middle of the 18th Century. It was created by Charles Hamilton and is noteworthy, not only in its own right, but also as the inspiration for two other gardeners of note, Henry Hoare at Stourhead and Alderman Beckford at Fonthill, father of the more celebrated William, who would out-do all three in the ambition of his projects. The first part of this most diverting volume examines the friendships, rivalries and extravagances of the resourceful trio who vied with each other in their fanciful concepts, but it is in his researches around the young Beckford that author and garden historian Thacker comes into his own. Labelled by Byron and then by himself, as ‘England’s wealthiest son’ his hopes of titles and political advancement were dashed when details of his relationship with his cousin, Master ‘Kitty’ Courtney were revealed, resulting in his effective banishment on a very extended Grand Tour. Thacker gives us details of his life and travels from his observations on the mountains and valleys which would inspire his later creations. He confessed to Lady Hamilton, Emma’s predecessor, “I fear I shall never be half so good for anything in this world but building towers, forming gardens”. Prophetic words for the man who would later extend his father’s vision to create a personal paradise at Fonthill Abbey, which must rank as one of the most extravagant private commissions ever executed in this country, all the more romantic since it collapsed so soon after its creation.
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