These nine papers are taken from a conference organised by the Royal Commission and the Garden History Society in 1996. Contents: From recording to recognition ( Christopher Taylor ); Parklands as gaurdians of early landscapes: Highclere Castle, Hampshire ( Graham Brown ); Aerial, topographical and geophyisical survey at Hamstead Marshall, Berkshire ( Greham D Keevill & Neil Linford ); The conscious conversion of earlier earthworks in the design of parks and gardens ( Mark Bowden ); Recording what isn't there: three difficulties with 18th century landscapes ( John Phibbs ); Field evidence for medieval gardens in England ( Paul Everson ); Fieldwork in London's Royal Parks ( Paul Pattison ); 18th-century landscapes in Norfolk, England ( Tom Williamson ); Two relict gardens in Somerset and their changing fortunes through the 17t and 18th centuries ( Robert Wilson-North ); Welsh gardens and landscapes after c.1450 ( C Stephen Briggs ).