All the exquisite quality of illumination is discussed in this garden, on which the eye is invited to walk around and drink in every detail. The medieval gardens that we know were simple but very sophisticated; recorded with meticulous precision in contemporary illustrations, the gardens of the fifteenth century Flemish include common key factors that add up to one style. They were small and withdrawal, and could therefore be suitable to both country and urban sites. In the formal layout they were, and their design was about pregnant: the exterior walls or fences of wattle, and internal mesh fences providing access to low rectangular raised beds, which was held in by wood or brick. The range of plants has been extremely limited, each flower should be considered in isolation and with wonder, and there was no sculpture apart from simple fountains in which water gushes reluctantly.
In this plan, I have deliberately divided the space into two in order to give expression to the main garden types - or "the bee as they were called - typical of the late Middle Ages. One contains raised beds ready with a fair degree of formality, while the other is a flowery mead which gasoline is refined and naturalistic study, conducted by informality seems naive. Together they offer a delightful contrast with the symmetry and geometry of the raised beds to make a smooth transition between home and the garden beyond apparently wild. Although medieval gardens were generally flat speakers without changing levels, they were often reached down a staircase from the bedroom of the mistress of the house. This reflects both a sharp appreciation of the horizontal model in the garden, the best view (nodes had become fashionable in the late fifteenth century), and a desire for ready access.
The herber loft bed is based on similar represented in many paintings of the period, including those shown overleaf, and depends strongly on the structure. For modern gardeners perhaps the most unusual in the garden, both visually and horticulture, is the grass that fills almost all of the beds, which should be trimmed topiary (which has often been taken support and curiously bound up), shrubs and flowers. Exceptionally, a bed can be filled with flowers of one species supported by a trellis frame.
