Publisher's Synopsis
Biddulph Grange is not just a garden, it is a way of explaining the world. It was made in the mid-19th century, when science was beginning to explore and understand the natural world. In the process, the new theory of evolution would come head-to-head with the Christian principle of Divine Creation. James Bateman and his friend, Edward Cooke, gentlemen amateurs, set out in this garden and its Geological Gallery a model of compromise between the two ideas. In a series of theatrical garden tableaux, Bateman brought together a dynamic collection of extraordinary new plants from China, Sikkim, America and beyond. Biddulph was a horticultural wonder of the age and it remains one of Britain's most important historic gardens. Biddulph Grange today reveals very few clues of the time when it was suffering neglect. This guidebook, illustrated with new photography and rarely seen archive images, not only tells the story of its creation, but also its decline and its remarkable restoration.
