Northumberland Holiday Guide 2009
A More Than Capable
COUNTY
Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown was England’s most famous landscape
gardener and he was born in the County of Northumberland in 1716...
Cragside Estate, Gail Johnson
Twenty miles north of Newcastle, near the village of Kirkharle, focal point of the ornamental lake to the woodlands carefully
there is a stone in the hedgerow marking the birthplace of planted to complement natural contours, are still visible today.
Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. For many years this was the Both the house and grounds are National Trust property and
only monument to the genius who transformed the English whilst the house is only open from March to November (daily
countryside but now there is a small exhibition to the great
except Tuesday) the grounds are open all year round.
man at Kirkharle Courtyard (as well as a cafe and a splendid
collection of galleries and craft shops).
Alnwick Castle had three Medieval deer parks but Henry Percy,
elevated to the Northumberland dukedom in 1749, wanted to
Capability Brown learned his trade as an apprentice gardener improve on nature for his new ducal seat. By 1767 there was
at Kirkharle Tower before moving south and finding fame no more famous gardener than Capability Brown and so he
designing new parkland for the private estate of Stowe in was invited to Alnwick Castle to remodel Hulne Park.
Buckinghamshire. In total Brown would build parkland for 170
other stately homes before his death in 1783. He earned his
To build his 18
th
century parklands Capability Brown frequently
nickname from his habit of surveying new ground and declaring,
buried the formal gardens of the 17
th
century under new
in a laconic North Country way: “yes, it has capabilities”.
grass and woodland. However at Alnwick Castle there is an
extraordinary modern garden to remind us of what Capability
Undoubtedly Capability Brown was inspired by the majestic
Brown consigned to the compost heap 250 years ago.
open spaces of Northumberland and sought to recreate the
beauty of his native county all over England. You can see both
The Alnwick Garden has been created by the current Duchess
his influence on garden design and the landscape that inspired
of Northumberland, whose unique vision combines a wide
him at three places in Northumberland, namely the gardens at variety of contemporary garden philosophies into a modern
Wallington Hall near Kirkharle, Alnwick Castle’s Hulne Park and interpretation of 17
th
century formal gardens. To bring this vision
Chillingham Park. to life, the Duchess has worked with celebrated Belgian garden
designers Jacques & Peter Wirtz and leading UK architect Sir
Wallington Hall near Morpeth is a Grade 1 listed Jacobean
Michael Hopkins who designed the pavilion.
house dating from 1688. Capability Brown laid out Wallington’s
parkland in 1766 and all the elements of his genius, from the The centrepiece of the Alnwick Garden (or more precisely
www.visitnorthumberland.com 23
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