run right up to parts of the house, and when first created they seem to have been mostly restricted to visitors from the elite, guests of the owner. But gardens were certainly made to be shown off to visitors; the "stroll garden" with a set walk around it, and recommended stopping points to appreciate the view, is a Japanese feature that later appears in the West. The best Japanese gardens have been continuously and carefully maintained, and probably look more like they did several centuries ago than their equivalents anywhere else in the world. In China large numbers of famous gardens have been restored, probably rather differently from their original appearance. But in India very few older gardens have kept their original appearance. In Europe the gardens of royal palaces seem to have very often had areas accessible to a wide public, if smartly dressed, while other areas were only accessible to courtiers, or just the royal family and those they invited. Access was likely to be easier when the family were not in residence. The grandest private houses, especially in the country, had similar arrangements; in both cases the owners saw their gardens as expressions of their own status and prestige. The owners of great country houses, especially those distant from the capital, often only visited them for brief periods, typically in the summer, when access might be more restricted. Garden tours and literature Michel de Montaigne was one of the earliest garden tourists to record his impressions of gardens (c1580). John Evelyn also recorded his visits to gardens in France and Italy, as did Fynes Moryson. Maggie Campbell-Culver wrote a biography of John Evelyn as she sourced from woods and gardens Evelyn took steps in, and described trees from oak as an Evelyn's symbol to evergreens he favored the most. England and Wales: schemes for charity Initially, the garden tour in England and Wales involves private gardens and gardens that does not accept visitors regularly under the National Gardens Scheme, when "Gardens of England and Wales Open for Charity" (the 'Yellow Book') served as a guide book for those seeking to visit gardens in England and Wales. The first issue of the Yellow Book was published as a supplement to a British magazine "Country Life" in 1931, after Elsie Wagg of an institution serving for district nursing came up with the basic idea of National Gardens Scheme, in