Academy garden

In Ancient Greece, The Academy was a grove outside the walls of Athens, dedicated to the god Academus and used for teaching. Plato's Academy was the grove in which Plato taught philosophy.

In the modern world 'academy' has a similar meaning to 'school' - and very few schools are known for their good gardens. Stowe School in England should be re-named Stowe Academy.It occupies the mansion of a famous landscape garden - which has a Grecian Grove and was, through a long chain of inheritance, inspired by the landscape of Ancient Greece.

If all schools were set in Academy Gardens, it could make an important contribution to the education of good citizens with as keen an appreciation of aesthetic qualities as of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.