Did Hermitages really house hermits? What was the point of a sham castle or Gothic ruin? Though Georgian garden buildings often seem monuments to rich men's folly and whimsy, in fact they always had a purpose, whether functional or ornamental, and today are valued for their social meaning and their place in the history of architecture and landscape design, as well as often for their sheer beauty or quirkiness. This overview of Georgian garden buildings examines their place in architectural and landscape history, and explains the purpose and form of individual types in the context of the English landscape garden. It looks at more than twenty types, from arches to towers via columns, grottoes and rotundas.

Sarah Rutherford is a Kew-trained gardener with an MA in the conservation of historic parks and gardens, and a PhD on the landscapes of nineteenth-century lunatic asylums. She worked for English Heritage assessing over 250 sites across England for the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, becoming Head of the Register. During this time she visited many Georgian landscape gardens and has studied still more as an enthusiastic freelance consultant researching and writing conservation plans for parks and gardens. She lives in Bucks, where she gardens and is Vice Chairman of the Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust.

Jonathan Lovie is a freelance landscape historian and the part-time Conservation Officer for The Garden History Society. After undertaking post-graduate historical research, he worked for English Heritage on the Register of Parks and Gardens, developing a wide-ranging knowledge of different types of landscapes across the country.