Unknown talent .sx In the first of an occasional series on favourite books , Roger White chooses James Randall's 1806 volume of fanciful designs for houses .sx Although the protagonists of the Modern Movement , who still very much rule the roost in the architectural profession and the schools , would have us believe that the practice of classicism imposes an intolerable strait-jacket on the creative imagination , practitioners of the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries thought otherwise .sx In the preface to his collection of Designs for Mansions , Casinos , Villas , Lodges and Cottages in the Grecian , Gothic and Castle Styles ( published in 1806 ) , the talented but almost totally unknown architect , James Randall , asserted :sx " It is not necessary that chastity of taste be confined to the rigid rules of the school :sx fancy may surly be allowed to play , if kept within proper bounds !sx Architecture , like music , is susceptible of innumerable combinations , which , if properly united , although very dissimilar , may possess real beauties and produce pleasing emotions on the mind .sx " .sx Randall's book , a handsome folio volume which is now very rare , combines plans , elevations and perspectives of his designs for houses in a characteristically Regency variety of styles - not just the 'Grecian Gothic and Castle Styles' of the title but also , for instance , designs for a mansion in the Egyptian style lately made fashionable by Napoleon's campaigns .sx Perhaps most interesting , because most potentially relevant for today's reader , is Randall's concentration on smaller houses or 'compact' villas " suitable to persons of moderate " .sx .sx These compact dwellings , some of them referred to as casinos , bring together a number of late Georgian preoccupations and influences , notably the Greek Revival and the work of Sir Robert Taylor and James Wyatt .sx His debt to the Revival is openly acknowledged by Randall , and is perfectly clear in the forms and detail of the two designs for 'Casinos in the Grecian Style' .sx One of these has four single-storey wings arranged in a Greek-cross plan around an octagonal centre , derived from the Tower of the Winds in Athens .sx This had been recorded by Stuart and Bevett in the 1750s and subsequently adapted for use by a number of English architects , notably Wyatt in his Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford .sx Within this unusual plan , Randall shuffles the rooms required by a well-to-do bachelor into an ingenious arrangement of different shapes .sx In other designs , notably the other 'Casino in the Grecian style' and a single-storey casino " composed at the desire of an Invalid " , the influence is that of Sir Robert Taylor .sx Taylor had died in 1788 and Randall , who seems to have been born around 1778 , was too young to have been his pupil .sx But the source for Randall's fascination with geometrically intricate plans , canted bays and far-projecting Tuscan eaves , is unmistakably such Taylor buildings of the early 1760s as Asgill House at Richmond and the fishing temple at Tendring in Suffolk .sx Randall died in 1820 , still a relatively young man , and with his designs still , as far as we can tell , on the drawing-board .sx It is sad and perhaps surprising that they failed to exert a stronger appeal and that potential clients were not convinced that ( to quote the motto that appeared on Randall's title page ) " Taste .sx ..saves Expence [sic] " .sx How nice it would be if discerning patrons of today were to be sufficiently intrigued to want to translate some of them belatedly into reality !sx .sx Home truths .sx Sophisticated commercial operation or cottage industry ?sx Anthony Rose explodes a few myths about English wine .sx English wine ?sx Pull the other one .sx If not the butt of a joke or to be pooh-poohed altogether in polite society , English wine is as often as not damned with faint praise .sx How many times have I head " not bad for an English wine " , as in an apologetic end-of-term report on poor little Johnny's terminal inability to do better ?sx But watch out , the secateurs are out .sx A growing band of iconoclasts and entre - preneurs is quietly snipping away at the cottage industry image of English viticulture .sx Even the rest of Europe is sitting up and taking note .sx From the 1991 vintage , English wine is to have its own quality control scheme .sx I first met David and Fiona Ealand on the morning of the hurricane back in October 1987 .sx Neither high winds nor fallen oaks were going to keep them from a triumph they had been working for since planting three acres of vineyard at Hambleden in the Chilterns in 1982 .sx The first commercial vintage of their Old Luxters Reserve had just won a silver medal in the eighteenth International Wine and Spirit Competition , which also voted it best English wine of the year .sx The wine was a revelation .sx How on earth had they managed to produce such an aromatic , deliciously fresh and fruity wine in such a dreadful summer ?sx The Ealands came to wine-making almost by accident .sx After falling in love with Old Luxters Farm , they bought it on impulse in 1980 .sx They then planned how to turn their three acres of land to profitable use , while David continued to work as a maritime lawyer .sx Livestock , rhubarb and tulips were all rejected .sx The more they went into it , the more the idea of a vineyard seemed feasible .sx Sitting six hundred feet up in the Chilterns , their east-facing site , with its well-drained , chalky soil , was ideal , according to professors at wine schools in California , Germany and Bordeaux .sx In order to be sure of getting a crop each year , they planted early-ripening grapes :sx Madeleine Angevine , Bacchus and Reichensteiner .sx " People who got to hear about us would walk past , giggle and sometimes sneer , " recalls David Ealand .sx ( Since then , they have helped set up some twenty-three vineyards in the Chilterns , amounting to over one hundred acres of vines .sx ) What was originally a sideline soon expanded into a profitable business .sx The Ealands invested pounds150,000 converting farm buildings into an ultra-modern winery .sx They took on an estate manager and wine-maker to help run the business .sx Even four dire summers in a row failed to dent the Ealands' unshakeable belief in the temperate English climate .sx Tragically , Fiona Ealand died of a brain tumour last year just as their labours had really begun to bear fruit .sx Before her death however , the Ealands were rewarded for their perseverance with two fine summers in 1989 and 1990 .sx David Ealand has left his job in the City to concentrate full-time on the wine-making business , while the seventeenth-century barn has now been converted into an art gallery and micro-brewery .sx And , with their startlingly rich , luscious Chiltern Valley Noble Bacchus , the Ealands have made perhaps the country's most successful sweet wine to date .sx It received a silver medal at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 1990 , proving its quality against contenders from thirty-five wine - producing countries .sx In the last five years , Chiltern Valley Wines have won twenty such awards , establishing their status on the national and international stage .sx Kit Lindlar has never been a member of the 'English wine as a hobby for retired rear admirals and eccentric wing commanders' tendency either .sx When I first spoke to him five years ago , he told me that " things are taking off " .sx He said then that " English wine can be produced to a high standard to compete with wine made anywhere in the world " .sx Though England has no native grape varieties , Lindlar was convinced that crossings such as Huxelrebe and Schönburger , developed for cool climates at the Geisenheim Institute in Germany , could do well in England .sx At the northern limit for grape growing , he felt that England's relative lack of sun was more than compensated for by the long daylight hours and the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream .sx As well as owning two acres of vineyard at Berwick Glebe in East Sussex , Lindlar runs a contract wine-making service at High Weald Winery in Kent .sx Here , he makes wine for some thirty to thirty-five English vineyards who send him their grapes .sx At the same time , he advises on the suitability of creating a vineyard , bearing in mind the soil , altitude and exposure of a site ; on the choice of vines and setting up costs ( roughly pounds5,000 per acre ) ; and the day-to-day management .sx Kit Lindlar has made quite a splash with a wine he calls , simply , English Vineyard .sx This wine , made from a blend of eight grape varieties , Huxelrebe and Müller-Thurgau predominating , comes in a white burgundy bottle instead of the more traditional tall Germanic bottle .sx With its gooseberryish aromas and dry , grapefruity , citrus-fruit tang , the feel of the wine , served to approving foreign tastebuds at last year's Master of Wine Symposium in Cambridge , is not million miles in style from a Loire white such as Sancerre .sx The most ambitious venture in English viticulture to date is that of Denbies Estate in Surrey .sx Denbies was conceived by Adrian and Jeremy White as a full-scale commercial vineyard right from the start in 1984 .sx They took advice on the suitability of the flint and chalk of the Mole Valley for vine - growing from Professor Selley , a geologist resident in Dorking .sx They then planted 250 acres of vineyard on their 650-acre estate at Ranmore Common , convinced that a combination of quality and the right presentation was needed to demonstrate to a disbelieving public that English wine could be far better than was supposed .sx The site , opposite Box Hill , was planted with eight main varieties , including Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - the classic champagne grapes - for the production of a champagne-method sparkling wine .sx Five million pounds was spent developing the vineyards and installing an ultra - modern winery and cellar .sx A third partner , Michael Trull , whose family own the La Bri vineyard in South Africa , joined the White brothers .sx Even by Californian standards , this is no small-scale operation .sx In common with Ealand and Lindlar , the Denbies trio are out to demolish the myth that English wine can only be a cottage industry because of poor weather .sx " The climate is not suitable for high - volume , low-cost wine , " says Michael Trull .sx " But the long growing season creates thin grapeskins which impart delicacy and complexity of flavour to a wine , while slow ripening means that the subleties are not bleached out by heat .sx And low yields result in concentration of flavour and naturally high acids which are good for ageing potential .sx " Denbies have worked out their sums carefully , calculating that they will need to achieve a minimum yield of two tons per acre and a price of roughly pounds5 .sx 00 per bottle to be profitable .sx Quality apart , Denbies are aiming at escaping from the hitherto Germanic-English style of wine sweetened by grape juice concentrate to mask an over - sharp acidity .sx " We are looking for wines with a winey character , " says Michael Trull , " wines that are good with food and not excessively floral ; more French than German .sx " To this end , Trull believes in the importance of blending to produce a consistent style , neither overly Germanic , nor slavishly following the New World cult of the grape variety .sx This year , Denbies release their first commercial wines .sx And next , if all goes according to plan , we will be raising a glass of sparkling Denbies to a new phase in English viticulture .sx Attention seekers .sx Susan Chivers and Suzanne Woloszynska put garden ornaments in their place .sx Photographs by Peter Woloszynski .sx No one knows when the human race first discovered the joys to be had in growing plants solely for their beauty and not merely for food or medicine .sx What is certain , however , is that once man's imagination was awakened , the early gardeners set about creating private domains , where their vision of an earthly paradise could be fulfilled .sx The word 'paradise' is derived from the Persian for an enclosure or park , and illustrations of ancient Persian gardens reveal that , even then , men were aware of the importance of adding ornament to their gardens with artefacts as well as plants .sx In Europe , the Renaissance marked the introduction of a proliferation of statuary and architectural objects into garden settings .sx Italian , and later French , garden makers adopted this practice to such an extend that , by the time Le N o-circ tre laid out the garden at Versailles in the mid - seventeenth century , no amount of statuary was considered too much for the design of a grand French garden .sx