My friend Keir Davidson, who has died aged 74, was a landscape designer and author. His books range from the history of Zen gardens in Japan to an account of Coleridge’s groundbreaking Lakeland fell walks in the early 19th century.
Born in London, son of the distinguished African historian and radical journalist Basil Davidson and his wife, Marion (nee Young), a Jungian psychotherapist, Keir attended St Paul’s school, London. His gap year was spent in Zambia teaching civics to high-school students, followed by four years at Leeds teacher training college. In 1973, he moved to the Welsh Marches to help a friend restore an abandoned 14th-century building. There he began garden and construction work, while in the evenings playing guitar with his band in local pubs.
