Monty Don on the best garden in the world: Ninfa?

Monty Don, in a recent TV series on the gardens of Italy, remarked that his friends know he has visited a lot of gardens and often ask him ‘What is the best garden in the world?’. So, while visiting Ninfa, he told us: ‘This is it’. I too have visited a lot of gardens and, though I could not name a ‘best garden’ have ventured a list of The World’s Top Ten Gardens. My list does not include Ninfa. Nor have I been there, but I would like Monty to be questioned or psychoanalysed to discover the reasons for his choice. My theory is that Monty Don is more interested in plants and planting than art and design. I like him as a presenter but despair of his garden history and regret his being such a gusher. Critics should be critical and, to be fair, he did visit Isola Bella to say ‘it’s kitch but I love it’.


Image courtesy sunshinecity

35 thoughts on “Monty Don on the best garden in the world: Ninfa?

  1. Adam Hodge

    I remember the day I visited Ninfa..it was very hot, so the shade from the trees and huge Bamboo clumps was most welcome, but I also remember wandering about feeling rather directionless, despite the lovely plants..I left with a sense of ‘what was that all about? ‘

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  2. Tom Turner Post author

    Monty did not answer your question, so I will do it. Ninfa is a prime example of picturesque landscape theory being applied to garden design. The theory has its origins in Italian landscape painting and, before that, in the pagan culture of pre-Christian Europe. It was adapted to garden design in nineteenth century England and was applied to Ninfa in the early twentieth century. The story is interesting and important. Monty should have told us about it.

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  3. Adam Hodge

    It seems as though the reality of the picturesque landscape is that its best looked at from a particular point,less engaged with in an interactive fashion…perhaps !

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  4. Tom Turner Post author

    Yes. I once thought about doing a book of aerial photographs of gardens. Pictures of geometrical gardens look wonderful from the air but picturesque gardens do not.

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  5. Tom Turner Post author

    Charles Mann’s photographs of Ninfa are very good.It must be a seasonal garden, because it relies on plants, and it may well be beautiful in winter. But to claim it as the most beautiful garden in the world is like claiming John William Waterhouse’s as the most beautiful painting in the world.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_of_Shalott_%28painting%29
    Any such claim would tell us more about the art critic than the art.
    I wonder what Andrew Lloyd Webber regards as the most beautiful painting in the world – he has a great admiration for the Pre-Raphaelites. http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/perspectives/article613726.ece
    ‘De gustibus non est disputandum’?

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  6. Christine

    Sorry Tom. My comment was a bit misleading, rather than saying Ninfa was ‘the most beautiful garden in the world’ his claim was that Ninfa was ‘the best garden in the world’. They are different claims. And I suppose it could be a true claim, [in the scale of good, better, best] but I am unaware of the basis of his judgment.

    Perhaps Tom you could compose a list of the 10 most beautiful gardens in the world?

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  7. Adam Hodge

    Might the list Christine is proposing be described as ‘Tom’s most beautiful gardens in the world’
    I am interested to know what Tom, Christine et al perceive as the best 10 but, with the greatest of respect is it not a tad pedantic to set them in stone as definitive gardens ?
    Perhaps the other readers of this blog also submit their preferred 10 and Tom comnpile a picture of the assorted opinions !

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  8. Katrina Underwood

    Surely any list provided is only ever a “personal” one and can only be judged from an individual’s point of view. Especially as not everyone is easily able to visit those so deemed “best gardens” in the far corners of the world. Therefore as in many forms of art,which gardens are considered to be, this is perhaps only ever a case of whatever hominis vertitur caput verba in effectu!!

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  9. Tom Turner Post author

    Difficult! I remembering writing once before that if Europe was going to be flooded, as the Temple of Abu Simbel was flooded, and I could only save two gardens, as Abu Simbel was saved, then I would ask for the Villa Lante and Stourhead. I think my list of Top Ten Gardens must have been compiled on this basis. It is like a museum curator’s judgement. ‘Beauty’ is a more nebulous concept concept and beauty in gardens depends on the seasons, the lighting, the visitor’s personal history etc. Sorry Christine, I can’t do the ‘beauty’ list! Nor is the present Top Ten right: the Yuyuan in Shanghai is a very ‘delectable’ Chinese garden but I do not think it is in the first rank of gardens of historical importance in China.

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  10. Christine

    Yes it is a difficult question, so to further the discussion of selecting ‘bests’ in a competitive sense, I have included a discussion of the Archibald portraiture prize [ http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/archibald-wynne-sulman-prizes-2011/ ] which is judged in three sections: the prize itself, the people’s choice and the packing room prize. [ http://archive.thearchibaldprize.com.au/media/exhibition_images/education/archibald10_Sect2_1.pdf_.pdf ]

    I was very interested to note that the prize is not considered ‘seriously’ within the art industry? It is worth considering:

    “William Dobell’s 1943 Archibald win was particularly controversial – many pundits argued his portrait of Joshua Smith so distorted Smith’s features that it could not be called a portrait. Dobell’s win however, expanded the concept of what could be a portrait, and abstract interpretations as well as conventional portraits were subsequently submitted.”

    Here is the painting in question and the man (the sitter) himself. [ http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images2/smith_joshua.jpg ]

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  11. Tom Turner Post author

    I like the idea of a People’s Prize and a Packing Room Prize. They should have something similar for design competitions. For example, there was a design compeition for our new School Building – it would have been an easy matter to ask the staff to vote and the principle could be extended to other architecture and landscape competitions. One problem with this is that I agreed with the judges and might not have agreed with my colleagues!

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  12. Christine

    I suppose there would need to be a protocol in place to say which project is implemented – the one selected by the judges or the one selected by the staff.

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  13. Paul McGrath

    I just want to set the record straight.
    Monty Don did not say it was the best garden in the world, he said he thought that it was the most romantic garden in the world.

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  14. Sable

    Too many gardens are over-designed, so gaudy and artistic so as to be a bit uncomfortable to hang around in. Lovely to look at but too far-fetched to be a place to truly enjoy, to stop and smell the roses. Ninfa is simply a lovely place to just be. Isn’t that what gardens are supposed to be?

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  15. GardenStoreUK

    Isn’t the joy of gardening, or beauty, that it is all subjective though? By all means disagree, but don’t chastise the man for having an opinion that differs from your own! The world, and the world of gardening, would be a mightily dull place if we all sang from the same song book.

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  16. Adam Hodge

    With the greatest of respect TO GardenstoreUk, I suggest that the comments for this blog are disagreements, in this case, with Monty’s opinion. To suggest he’s being chastised is a tad severe. Tom graciously apologized when a point of incorrect detail was indicated which suggests a spirit of humility more than aggression.

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    1. Tom Turner Post author

      Thank you Adam. You are right that I feel in now way aggresive to Monty Don. He is my favourite garden presenter on TV. But points are always worth discussing.

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  17. GardenLover

    ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ Monty was obviously very moved by Ninfa. Sometimes words cannot express what one feels. Certainly textbooks explanations of historical context do not capture feeling. Some of you ‘critics’ need to spend some more time just being in and enjoying beauty and get off your critical pedestal!

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  18. Adam Hodge

    So Gardenlover, if we both wandered through a garden and I was rapturous about it, and yet you found it less appealing, wouldn’t I be a trifle discourteous if I failed to respect your absence of enthusiasm irrespective of my disappointment. Surely we must be big enough to allow an alternative perspective, trusting it is proffered in a courteous manner.

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    1. Tom Turner Post author

      ALL the arts depend on critical debate. Without it, you have only mush. Also, I am not a fanatical admirer of the ‘Beauty is in eye of the beholder’ theory. It contains an important truth, that tastes differ, but it does not tell the whole truth. There are critical standards for each sphere of artistic activity. The Telegraph reports that Hamlet is thoght to be Shakespeare’s best play. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/3563537/Shakespeare-best-to-worst.html

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  19. Adam Hodge

    I certainly would agree it is lovely, especially when compared to the more grand places like Vaux le Vicomte, Versailles or Seaux, but for me it doesn’t quite rise to being one of the loveliest. I think he is recognizing the tranquility Courances exudes when you stroll off down the long corridors of green.

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    1. Tom Turner Post author

      ‘Lovely’ is normally a compliment for a girl. Vaux, Vesailles and Seaux are more masculine. Courances is unusual in having the loveliness of a beautiful young man. Would you hazard a comment on which gardens surpass Courances in loveliness? (I would be hard put to answer this question!)

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  20. Adam Hodge

    I am also hard put, although in its own slightly scruffy way I found the garden La Chevre D’Or near Biot in the south of France lovely or even enchanting.
    I am unfamiliar with the concept of the loveliness of a beautiful young man, perhaps I wouldn’t view them at all I guess.

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    1. Tom Turner Post author

      Thank you: I will put La Chevre D’Or on my list of places to visit – though it is too long for one lifetime. One of the problems with loveliness is that, like the weather, it changes. I saw Hidcote in lovely condition and with only a couple of other visitors there about ten years ago. Since then I have been back twice and it has been hard to fill my frame with a sufficiently appealing image to make pressing the button worthwhile. On one occasion the light was flat and grey. On the other the garden was glaringly dry and worn down by coachloads of tourists.

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  21. Adam Hodge

    I wonder if what we identify as ‘loveliness’ is a fulfilment of an emotional state of happiness. I often find gardens with fairly simple plantings-or should one say what looks simple, often evokes a certain deep sense of peacefulness which in itself is quite an elixir. SO, gardens can have parts that are especially lovely, as Courance has with the long, quite narrow, avenues well framed with mature trees and an absence of paved walkways. In another way the effect of a bluebell wood in full flower is supremely lovely, and something I aspire to replicate in my current projects.

    I also wonder if the loveliness issue is what provokes the critics we find at Anne Wareham’s thinkingardens. It seems they are attempting to say ‘actually it isn’t lovely’. My dilemna is that what I respond to isn’t necessarily what others do and visa versa, but do I have the right to assert my taste as being the correct one.

    You make the point in comment 23 that critical debate is necessary. The query I have is to decide who can say what is good or bad, and what actually is good or bad. In establishing something definite , new trends will overturn it. Piet Oudolf, I think, demonstrates this in his style of landscaping compared to the traditional European styling one sees all over Holland.
    As we all know Art regularly goes through upheavals thus kicking sand into the accepted ideas of good and bad art.

    You make reference to Hidcote. Not that I have been there for a some time but it seems [judging by thinkingardens comments] it’s going through a low phase. Maybe the Head Gardener isn’t up to muster or the budget has been impractically reduced.

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    1. Tom Turner Post author

      Each and every individual is entitled to an opinion. In a free society that is unchallengeable. Further, we are all likely to have critics we tend to agree with – or tend not to agree with. I review Tim Richardson’s New English gardens recently and find him a critic I often agree with. So if he recommends a garden I am more likely to visit it then if he says it is a load of cobblers.
      Re Piet Oudolf, I might have been a little put off by trying to visit his garden on Ascension Day (I did not know this is a public holiday in Holland) but since then I have seen some of his work – and have been disappointed.
      Re Hidcote, I suspect the main problem is too many visitors. What is the National Trust to do? Can visitor numbers keep going up and up and up for ever and ever and ever? No. So when will the numbers be capped and how will it be done?

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    1. Tom Turner Post author

      I have no doubt that Hidcote’s garden staff love ‘their’ garden, but it looks to me as if it suffering from a lack of love. For the high numbers they have I suggest washing the dust of the paths in hot dry weather.

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  22. Anne Wareham

    Funny place to find this debate, but I’m struck by noticing that the preoccupation seems to be with labelling gardens rather than analysing. Surely the benefit of a good critique is that it is an illuminating and eye opening discussion of a garden rather than an attempt to categorise?

    And that people’s disagreements should be/could be examined and discussed – and merit that discussion. Rapture may be a great start but ideally we might hear what the basis of it is.

    I’m glad to see that Tim is offering some modest criticism of the English gardens in his recent book. We are, at last, moving in the right direction to take gardens seriously.

    (and I think Monty praised some rather planty Australian garden in those kind of terms too – I think it’s a habit of his and we should perhaps not take it too seriously)

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    1. Tom Turner Post author

      As the editor of the Gardenvisit.com website, I regard garden design as an art – and share the art historians enthusiasm for interpreting works within the critical context of periods, influences and styles. But I am just as much interested in design commentary and analysis. Re Tim’s book, I like and have reviewed it recently (and also Monty Don’s tour of French gardens).

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  23. Sue francis

    Thank heavens for some spontaneity and enthusiasm in Monty Don’s presentation. Much prefer it to dull and boring comments by self styled experts. I will be visiting Ninfa in May and can’t wait!

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