India, June 28 -- Heaven is a well-laid garden. Or at least, the Ancient Persians thought so.

The word paradise is derived from the Persian paradaijah, literally, "walled enclosure". As far back as 6th century BCE, the paradaijah was organised as a chahar-bagh, a set of its four swathes of green, each meant to embody one of the vital elements of the universe: earth, fire, water and air.

Long, long before this, c. 1000 BCE, royal gardens in China featured intricately designed landscapes that often sought to marry myth with idealised forms of nature.

How did such ideas evolve over time, to yield the neighbourhood parks of today? An intriguing exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in Dundee (the first V&A outside London) traces the h...