Mr Hamilton's Elysium

The Hon. Charles Hamilton was one of those extraordinary eighteenth-century gentlemen who, like Lord Cobham at Stowe and Henry Hoare at Stourhead, turned their gardens into works of art.

Inspired by his time in Italy, Hamilton set out to transform the 'accursed hill' at Painshill in Surrey into a pictorial landscape complete with serpentine lake and water wheel, Turkish Tent, 'Chinese Bridge', Ruined Abbey, Grotto and Hermitage.

The garden soon ranked with the best in the land but it later lay forgotten until rediscovered in the 1970s.

The restoration over the last thirty years or so has been as careful and dramatic as any.

Now Painshill Park is visited by thousands and even the famous vineyard is flourishing again.

This book is fully illustrated with archive images and wonderful photographs of the park and its amazing buildings.