It is a bitterly cold night in December 1843. As always John Claudius Loudon, architect, landscaper, writer, is working on several projects. They include an eight volume work on the trees of Britain, a set of ‘Instructions for Beginners’ in the art of being a gentleman and a design for a model cemetery where solemnity and grandeur, and a minimum of six feet of earth between each coffin, would combine to improve the morals, the taste and the health of the population. But Mr Loudon has a number of the unexpected visitors…