This book focuses for the first time on sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century country houses in their settings. Investigating the complex relations between Tudor and early Stuart houses and the landscapes in which they were set, Paula Henderson offers new perspectives on some of England's most magical buildings. She examines natural and man-made landscapes as well as gatehouses, garden buildings, banqueting houses and other ancillary structures. More than 200 splendid images illustrate the book, which also features a complete gazetteer. Drawing on new documentary material and on research into many rediscovered buildings associated with original settings, Henderson refutes common perceptions that gardens of the period were confined and highly artificial and that 'natural' landscapes were not appreciated until the eighteenth century. She explains how and why Tudor country estates were organized and designed, and she provides a new evaluation of what the gardens and other aspects of the landscape meant to those who created and visited them.