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Thousands of trees planted and lakes restored for Capability Brown festival Thousands of trees planted and lakes restored for Capability Brown festival
(35 minutes later)
Some of Britain’s finest gardens designed by Lancelot Brown, the Northumberland farmer’s son who, under his nickname Capability Brown, became synonymous with the 18th-century English style of landscape gardening, are to be celebrated in a summer festival.Some of Britain’s finest gardens designed by Lancelot Brown, the Northumberland farmer’s son who, under his nickname Capability Brown, became synonymous with the 18th-century English style of landscape gardening, are to be celebrated in a summer festival.
The Capability Brown festival 2016, marking 300 years since his birth in the village of Kirkharle near Morpeth, has secured access to gardens normally closed to the public. The great estates of Blenheim and Chatsworth, the National Trust, English Heritage, and London’s Historic Royal Palaces are taking part.The Capability Brown festival 2016, marking 300 years since his birth in the village of Kirkharle near Morpeth, has secured access to gardens normally closed to the public. The great estates of Blenheim and Chatsworth, the National Trust, English Heritage, and London’s Historic Royal Palaces are taking part.
By one estimate, Brown transformed more than half a million acres of land, across at least 250 sites in England and Wales, burying fences in ditches and sinking roads, damming rivers or digging out lakes to create shimmering mirrors of water, studding the vista with clumps of beautiful trees or eyecatching follies and classical ruins. By one estimate, Brown transformed more than half a million acres of land across at least 250 sites in England and Wales, burying fences in ditches and sinking roads, damming rivers or digging out lakes to create shimmering mirrors of water, studding the vista with clumps of beautiful trees or eyecatching follies and classical ruins.
The festival’s director, Ceryl Evans, recalled that when somebody suggested Brown might try his hand in Ireland, he replied: “I haven’t finished England yet.”The festival’s director, Ceryl Evans, recalled that when somebody suggested Brown might try his hand in Ireland, he replied: “I haven’t finished England yet.”
The festival will enliven Brown’s gardens with carriage rides and picnics, guided walks, concerts and performances of new music and dance pieces, exhibitions and films. There will be a special display at Fenstanton in Cambridgeshire, the only place where Brown owned land, and where he was buried after collapsing in the street in London in 1783.The festival will enliven Brown’s gardens with carriage rides and picnics, guided walks, concerts and performances of new music and dance pieces, exhibitions and films. There will be a special display at Fenstanton in Cambridgeshire, the only place where Brown owned land, and where he was buried after collapsing in the street in London in 1783.
The sites include Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, where a Capability Brown plan commissioned in 1780 but believed lost in a 19th-century fire was found in the archives. His vision is currently being restored, with trees felled to open up the vistas he planned, and 83,000 trees planted, 15 acres of water in overgrown or abandoned ponds and lakes restored, and 17 miles of roads built.The sites include Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, where a Capability Brown plan commissioned in 1780 but believed lost in a 19th-century fire was found in the archives. His vision is currently being restored, with trees felled to open up the vistas he planned, and 83,000 trees planted, 15 acres of water in overgrown or abandoned ponds and lakes restored, and 17 miles of roads built.
The fesitval has won a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of almost £1m. A special effort to attract not just the garden tourism fanatics who would cross the country to see a rare flower in bloom, but the people who never consider an outing to a garden or park. A major restoration programme is under way at Compton Verney in Warwickshire, better known as an art gallery, which will be organising free coach trips from nearby towns. The festival has won a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of almost £1m and efforts will be made to attract not only the garden tourism fanatics who would cross the country to see a rare flower in bloom, but also those who would never consider an outing to a garden or park. A major restoration programme is under way at Compton Verney in Warwickshire, better known as an art gallery, which will be organising free coach trips from nearby towns.
There is no evidence that Brown had more than a village school education, but he was on friendly terms with some of the wealthiest aristocrats in the land; he won the title of royal gardener from George III in 1764, which came with a handsome house in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace. His nickname came from his habit of surveying the existing lands of aristocratic patrons, their trees, boggy fields, insufficiently decoratively curving streams and ill placed hills , and proclaiming that they had “capabilities”. There is no evidence that Brown received more than a village school education, but he was on friendly terms with some of the wealthiest aristocrats in the land; he won the title of royal gardener from George III in 1764, which came with a handsome house in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace. His nickname came from his habit of surveying the existing lands of aristocratic patrons, their trees, boggy fields, insufficiently decoratively curving streams and ill-placed hills, and proclaiming that they had “capabilities”.
Brown’s trademark of practical idylls – Gilly Drummond, chair of the festival, pointed out that the drained fields provided better grazing, the new lakes gave a reliable water supply to cattle and people alike, and the trees were a valuable economic resource - were copied across the world. Gilly Drummond, the chair of the festival, pointed out that Brown’s trademark of practical idylls – the drained fields providing better grazing, the new lakes giving a reliable water supply to cattle and people alike, and the trees offering a valuable economic resource – were copied across the world.
Hampton Court Palace will be displaying a series of recently identified landscape views returning from the Hermitage in Russia, for the first time since one of Brown’s draftsmen sold them to Catherine the Great. Hampton Court Palace will display a series of recently identified landscape views returning from the Hermitage museum in Russia, for the first time since one of Brown’s draftsmen sold them to Catherine the Great.
Sebastian Edwards, curator at Hampton Court, said the irony was the views were not of a Capability Brown creation. “The great thing about his time at Hampton Court is that he did so little here - if he had carried out a typical Capability Brown scheme he would have destroyed our wonderful baroque gardens. As it was he seems to have cut down a few trees to improve the views, and left it at that.” Sebastian Edwards, curator at Hampton Court, said the irony was that the views were not of a Capability Brown creation. “The great thing about his time at Hampton Court is that he did so little here – if he had carried out a typical Capability Brown scheme he would have destroyed our wonderful baroque gardens. As it was he seems to have cut down a few trees to improve the views, and left it at that.”