with John Phibbs
Humphry Repton is generally regarded as the third of the great landscapers who led the English Landscape Movement. Indeed many books have been written about him – and a very good one by the London Gardens Trust. So how come he has the reputation of a second-rate failure?
The huge contribution made by the farmland he designed to what we might call environmental ecology has been strangely overlooked by the scholarly consensus, but could still serve as a template for eco-friendly design and it makes a nonsense of the idea that old ‘historic’ landscapes are somehow at odds with the interests of bio-diversity. This talk will anatomise Darlands Park, Totteridge, and inspect the entrails for proof of his importance, but there will be lots of pictures of other places as well.
John Phibbs is Principal of Debois Landscape Survey Group. He is also the author of Humphry Repton, Designing the Landscape Garden; Place-making: The Art of Capability Brown and Capability Brown: Designing the English Landscape
