Chapter 7  Russian gardens

Amid the chaos of Eastern Europe Loudon is forced to spend 3 months in a small town in the Russian sector of Poland. The weather is getting cold by the time he manages to enter Russia but he has used the time to learn the language and to have a kibitka fitted out, like a Scythian chariot, for travel and for sleeping when necessary. It keeps him safe when he has to spend a night alone in a snow drift with wolves roaming the forest. He has to stop for four months in St Petersburg, because everything is frozen. In the spring he visits Moscow and travels back to England, visiting gardens wherever possible. In London he has a second disaster: his bankers have lost most of his fortune.

Tykocin (Tykocyn) Village, Poland - 

Winter in St Petersburg - 

Russian border crossing - 

St Petersburg panorama - 

Peterhof -

Bridge of boats - 

Tsarskoye Selo - 

Coach Hill - Russian Mountain - 

Pavlovsk  - 

Tauride Palace in St Petersburg - 

Loudon’s visit to Moscow - 

Gorenki - 

Heligoland - 

Chapter index pages Introduction, Chapter 1: Somers and Buchanans, Chapter 2: Loudons, Chapter 3: Indian Mission, Chapter 4: Picturesque Gardens, Chapter 5: Farming Landscapes, Chapter 6: Prussian Gardens, Chapter 7: Russian Gardens, Chapter 8: Buchanan’s Destiny, Chapter 9: Italian Gardens, Chapter 10: Gardenesque Gardens, Chapter 11: Utilitarian Landscapes, Chapter 12: Marriage, Chapter 13: Landscape Architecture, Chapter 14: Family Reunion, Chapter 15: Loudon’s Zenith, Chapter 16: Valedictory, Afterword.