C O N T E X T 1 1 9 : M A Y 2 0 1 1 39 Vox pop so on. From a professional point of view, trying to persuade planners and legislators that designed landscapes deserve as much recognition as other facets of our natural and cultural heritage, and that they should be given greater recognition and weight within the planning process. Although I am not backward-looking, and recognise that landscapes must evolve, it distresses me to see opportunities wasted to protect the surviving elements of historic designed landscapes and to incorporate these in new development. Christopher Dingwall, a landscape historian, is a self-employed heritage consultant and part-time lecturer. He guest-edited the March issue of Context on designed landscapes. He was formerly conservation officer for the Garden History Society in Scotland, and a teacher in outdoor and museums education. Who has been your greatest inspiration? Several individuals during my lifetime, notably JohnTyson, geography teacher at my secondary school, who engendered in me an understanding and love of landscape, and passion for the outdoors, at an early age; Hugh Prince, lecturer at University College London, where I studied for my BSc in geography, whose memorable lectures on landscape history sowed the seed of my interest in designed landscapes; and Don Aldridge, one-time head of conservation education with the former Countryside Commission for Scotland, and pioneer of countryside interpretation in the UK, with whom I shared a number of interests over many years. Of figures from the past, probably the polymath, author and social reformer John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843), whose vision of the world embraced many different disciplines, and who devoted much of his life to writing about these. What has been your best idea? Deciding to make a move in mid-career away from the world of museums and full-time education, to study for a year under Derek Linstrum and Peter Goodchild at York University’s Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, for my MA in conservation studies, in the first year that they offered a landscape option. This served to confirm and increase my interest in gardens and designed landscapes, and set the course for my subsequent career in their conservation and interpretation. Another good idea has been my electing to remain in Scotland, where there is much work still to do to document, conserve and protect the nation’s garden heritage. What would you like to have been if you had not become a conservationist? Either a full-time lecturer in geography or landscape history, or a librarian or archivist. How do you reply when at a party someone asks what you do? I am pleased to describe myself as a ‘landscape historian’, a response which often generates some surprise and a second question: ‘what does one of those do for a living?’ This gives me a chance to explain my passion for the subject, and to describe some of the work and projects in which I have been involved over the years. What is the biggest frustration in your job? From a personal point of view, I find there is insufficient time to research in depth all the subjects which I would wish to: the history of deer parks, garden cemeteries, school gardens, the nursery trade, the development of tourism, and
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