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The Garden of Cosmic Speculation: The Dumfriesshire landscape that is out of this world

26 April 2017

There aren’t many gardens like Charles Jencks’ garden. And, for only one day a year, the public peek into his fantastical world.

If you can't make it along, however, Dr James Fox visited in 2016 on his journey through six different landscapes across Britain for Forest, Field & Sky: Art out of Nature.

Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Dumfriesshire

James Fox met the creator of the garden, Charles Jencks, to discuss art and nature.

In the late 1980s the American landscape architect, along with his late wife Maggie Keswick, created the Garden of Cosmic Speculation on land at their home near Dumfries.

The 30 acres of shaped land, sculptures and bridges ‘celebrate nature, both intellectually and through the senses, including the sense of humour’.

Or put another way, it’s like being on futuristic golf course, according to the art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon.

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