The Loudons Honeymoon Tour

'"I loved having you in the garden this summer," he said. "Next year we’ll take a carriage and have a normal honeymoon." "Perfect," she replied.' ‘’This is a quote from The Claudians: gardens, landscapes, reason and faith: John Claudius Loudon and Claudius Buchanan, Tom Turner (Kindle, 2024).

There is no record of the Loudon's having regarded their long 1831 tour through England to Scotland as a honeymoon. But Jane Loudon does tell us that "Immediately after our marriage, Mr. Loudon began to rewrite the Encyclopædia of Gardening, which was published in the course of the year 1831." and that "In the beginning of the year 1831 he had an application to lay out a botanic garden at Birmingham, and he agreed to do it merely on the payment of his expenses."  It is also known that their daughter, Agnes Loudon, was born in 1832. These dates support the narrative, in The Claudians, that the 1831 tour was their honeymoon.

The illustration shows them dashing to the Lake District with the glimpse of a muddy track and a donkey reminding Mr Loudon of his previous visit to this part of England.