Pleasure garden

For other uses, see The Pleasure Garden (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with pleasure ground.
An 18th-century print showing the exterior of the Rotunda at Ranelagh Gardens and part of the grounds

A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, bandstands, amusement rides, zoos, and menageries.

Paderborn Castle, Germany, in 1736, with its jardins de plaisance, as well as the kitchen gardens ("E") at right.

Historically a "pleasure garden" or pleasure ground meant private flower gardens, shrub gardens or formal wooded areas such as bosquets, that were planted for enjoyment, with ornamental plants and neat paths for walking. These were distinguished from the areas in a large garden planted as lawns or a landscaped park, or the "useful" areas of the kitchen garden and woodland. Pleasure gardens provided a cool and refreshing refuge from the summer heat.[1] The Mediterranean gardens were also maintained in the winter season, with winter rain allowing for the upkeep of rose and almond trees in northern Italy.[1] This made the gardens a welcome retreat throughout the year.[1]

The two meanings of the term, as the ornamental parts of a garden, and as a commercial place of entertainment, coexisted in English from at least the 17th century.

  1. ^ a b c Semple, Ellen Churchill (July 1929). "Ancient Mediterranean Pleasure Gardens". Geographical Review. 19 (3): 420–443. Bibcode:1929GeoRv..19..420S. doi:10.2307/209149. ISSN 0016-7428. JSTOR 209149.