The Georgian Landscape Garden

Georgian or English landscape gardens are true love of mine. This is my favourite style garden and I can’t really explain why. I’m simply mad about them. Perhaps because the jardin anglais is like being on a treasure hunt: you have to explore every corner of the garden, find the buildings and garden features. It’s exciting and it’s fun.

I’ve been postponing writing about the Georgian gardens so far. No wonder why: the topic is huge. However, this spring I made it to Tuscany which reminded me of English landscape gardens. No escape, the time has come to add the Georgian gardens to my garden series.

The English Landscape Garden alias the jardin anglais

The English landscape garden is unique and it is probably the biggest contribution by Britain to art.

The Georgian period completely covers the Hanoverian dynasty from the accession of George I in 1714 to the death of William IV in 1837.

Georgian gardens appeared from the 1720s and the symmetrical, geological Dutch, French and Italian garden designs fell from favour. Instead, a natural looking landscape with rolling hills, lakes, copses of trees came into fashion. Some gardens took 15 years to build in spite of the use of steam power for pumping engines to fill newly made lakes with water.

Landscape gardens were status symbols: a landscape that rolled out from the country house across hundreds of acres of the surrounding countryside was an expression of wealth and power.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that Europe quickly adopted the English garden design.The biggest fan of the jardin anglais was Catherine the Great who laid out the great park of Tsarskoe Selo outside of St Petersburg in the 1770s.

Although the design was invented by the English, they were more conservative in their use of them than their counterparts in Europe. The main reason was, that whereas In Europe the most extravagant garden buildings could be found on royal estates which also set the fashion in gardening and architecture. In England, however, such extravaganza among royalty did not exist. It was the aristocracy who followed the garden trends.

The Grand Tour

To understand the drive for the English landscape garden design, we have to understand the significance of the Grand Tour often referred to as a gap year which became extremely popular in the 18th century. It was a symbol of wealth and part of the young man’s education after university but before marriage and settling down. The goal was for the young aristocracy to travel, study art and to socialise. It could last a few months or even a few years.

The wealthiest travelled by their own carriage and horses along with their servants and even own cook if worried of foreign food. They took swords and guns for the tour against thieves and bandits as well as several passports for crossing borders.

The first destination was Paris where they spent several months. They refreshed their wardrobes and bought the latest fashion, took fencing lessons, learnt the latest dances and socialised.

From Paris they headed off to Lyon where they had two choices to get to Italy: either via Marseilles by boat or via the Alps. As many worried about shipwreck or pirates, the most common route was by crossing the Alps. This was challenging: those who travelled by their own carriage, it had to be dismantled and was carried by mules across the Alps.

The first stop in Italy was Turin, then Milano for the excellent opera. From here they travelled to Venice and planned to arrive for the carnival.

Florence was next where they admired arts and architecture, and finally got to the Eternal City, Rome where everybody wanted to see the antiquities.

From Italy only the wealthiest made it to Greece, Turkey or Egypt.

The aristocracy bought loads of objets d’art during the Grand Tour which they sent back to England before their return.

Main features of the Georgian gardens

The antique landscape of France and Italy and beyond inspired the young aristocracy as well as landscape designers. When they returned to England from the Grand Tour many wanted to recreate the scenes, landscapes and gardens they saw.

Early Georgian gardens often included temples, statues, grottos and lakes, designed to be visited on a circular walk. Later, large parkland views with grass, serpentine lakes, tree clumps and long carriage drives came into fashion. The Georgian garden was built to enjoy it and to entertain in it.

As the turnpike road network developed rapidly from the 1750s people started to travel. Many private gardens were open for visitors – the first garden guidebook was published in 1744 in Stowe. However, most landscape gardens were used for entertaining own guests and to impress them.

Visitors enjoyed landscape gardens because it was like being on a treasure hunt: they had to explore the grounds and find the different garden features. Let’s see what kind of features these were.

The ha-ha

Perhaps one of the most typical feature of the landscape garden is the so called ha-ha invented by Charles Bridgeman. This was a deep ditch faced on one side with a brick or stone wall. It functioned as a boundary between the terrace of the house and the parkland keeping livestock at bay. And why is it called ha-ha? Apparently, it refers to the exclamation “ha-ha” when someone didn’t pay attention where they stepped.

Romantic ruins and follies

Romantic ruins and follies were emotional triggers in landscape gardens. These could be towers, temples, rotundas which often functioned as tea houses. Visitors could stop here halfway for refreshments. The most often served drink was tea.

Other garden buildings

Beside temples, rotundas, towers and ruins there were boathouses, fishing lodges and smaller coves. The main function of these apart from storing sporting equipment was to have a nap. The beds installed in here were often tempting for lovers, but the genuine reason for the beds was sleeping.

Some other buildings like a root house or a tower were used for studying and reading or even as a library. I must admit, I’d love to have a study in a garden building let’s say in a tower or a fishing lodge.

Ice houses

Most Georgian country houses had ice houses. Ice made it possible to make ice cream and to show off as it was a luxury those days. The first ice cream recipe was made by Mary Eales, the confectioner to Queen Anne in 1718.

Tents

Tents were also popular structures which were often placed in strategic places and functioned as an eye-catcher. Because of that they were often decorated with vibrant colours. This is the most Oriental feature that would appear in a landscape garden. As they were built of wood and canvas, sadly not many survived. Visitors were served tea and refreshments in tents.

Pagodas, tearooms

The first Chinese style garden building was designed by William Kent at Stowe in 1738. These often functioned as tearooms. By the 19th century the Japanese style overtook the Chinese.

Grottos

Although grottos were popular garden features during the Renaissance, their function by the 18th century changed: to showcase the natural wonders. Grottos were popular places for candle lit dinners and concerts.

Hermitage

The 18th century landscape garden couldn’t miss having a hermitage tucked away deeply in a woodland area, preferably with a resident hermit. At Painshill Lord Hamilton was looking for a hermit for £700 who should live at the hermitage for 7 years. The hermit should be sober and silent, the house provided food and water, reading glasses, an hourglass and a bible. In return the hermit shouldn’t leave the estate. A man called Remington got the job but after 3 weeks he was found in a local inn (in flagrante) with a milkmaid. He was fired.

Menagerie

The number of flora and fauna collectors increased during the Georgian period. The exotic animals called for exotic garden buildings. The Rococo-style aviary at Waddesdon was built of the visit of the Persian shah.

The wife of George III, Queen Charlotte kept an elephant and a zebra at the stables at Buckingham Palace, at Kew she had swans, buffalo and the first living kangaroo in Britain. During the 1810s an elephant called Sadi lived at Chiswick House who opened bottles with his trunks at Lord Devonshire’s garden parties.

In private menageries other animals were kept such as wolves, lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, vultures, eagles and owls. Garden visitors were allowed to see the menagerie.

Water features

Water features were a must in a landscape garden be it a lake, a pond, a stream, a
Cascade or a well.

Lakes weren’t only used for bathing, they were used for boating. More specifically mock-naval battles were organised with forts, batteries, cannons built and placed on the shores. Boating on lakes wasn’t without any danger. In 1778 at Grimsthorpe the 22-year old composer, Thomas Linley drowned when the boat sank.

Statues

English landscape gardens are full of antique-style statues, urns and vases. In the 18th century the rustic maids and shepherd statues become fashionable with cheeky cherubs and dancing fauns.

Privy

Let’s not forget about the privies which were built in the shrubbery. These structures were built of wood, which is why hardly any survived. But we know that there often were multiple seaters – the Georgian didn’t require privacy when it came to this business.

Programmes and activities in the landscape gardens

The main activity in the landscape garden was walking and exploring the garden on foot, on horseback or by a coach. Even smaller landscape gardens had a circular walk that lead guests around the garden.

Needless to say that the landscape garden was used by the owner for entertaining: picnics, dinners, concerts were organised to impress guests. Moonlit night walks were popular which were timed for full moon so that the paths and roads are lit by the moon and guests don’t get lost.

Music played an important part in the garden: instruments such as flutes, French horns were left in different garden buildings that could be taken around and played at. The wealthiest of course invited the most famous and popular composers. George Friedrich Händel was one of the most sought-after country house guests. There was also a rivalry over who could hire the best Italian opera singer for the summer.

If the celebration was organised outdoors, they normally picked a building which became the main building for that event.

Dinner, tea, ice cream, music and dancing were the main ingredients for a good party. Guests often dressed as maids and shepherds, sang folksongs and danced. The highlight of the evening was the appearance of the hermit which always caused excitement.

The night was celebrated with a bonfire or fireworks, grottos were candle lit as well as some statues for ambience. Well, you can imagine having a masquerade ball in a candle lit landscape garden, can’t you?

Landscape gardens were also used for sports. For centuries the favourite sports of the English aristocracy was hunting and fishing. Fishing was a popular pastime in Georgian Britain among ladies and children as well.
Bathing was also popular which they either did in the lake or in plunge pools.

Garden designers

The greatest landscape garden designers were: Charles Bridgeman, William Kent, Capability Brown and Humphry Repton.

Charles Bridgeman (1690-1738) was a pioneer in English landscape design, however, his innovations were overshadowed by his successors William Kent and Capability Brown. Bridgeman’s most famous and significant works were laying out Stowe and Rousham, but he also worked on Chiswick House, Kew, Claremont and Wimpole Hall.

William Kent (1685-1748) was not only a landscape garden designer but an architect, painter and furniture designer as well. Kent reformed the layout of English estates but had limited botanical knowledge.
Kent introduced the Palladian style in England when he designed Chiswick House, but he also worked on iconic buildings like the Horse Guards in London or Holkham Hall in Norfolk. Kent’s most famous landscape designs were Stowe and Rousham.

Lancelot „Capability” Brown (1715-1783) had the advantage of being not only a landscape garden designer but a hands-on gardener and provided complete solutions to his clients including planting and maintenance. Although Brown got most commissions from private estates (he designed 170 parks) he was criticised in his life already for not being very creative and imaginative with his designs that always included rolling lawns sweeping right up to the house, an impressive lake and tree clumps scattered in the landscape.

Brown worked at Stowe under William Kent’s supervision. When the owner of Stowe, Lord Cobham allowed Brown to work for his aristocratic friends, Brown’s career took off and he became the most saught after garden designer.

His nickname „Capability” refers to him saying to his clients that their property had capability for improvement.
Brown worked on such famous landscape gardens as Stowe, Blenheim Palace, Belvoir Castle, Croome, Harewood House, Chatsworth, Highclere Castle, Kew Gardens or Petworth.

Humphry Repton (1752-1818) was the last great designer of the English landscape gardens. Unlike his predecessors, Repton only did design which meant he made far less money. His success laid in his red books: he was a watercolourist and turned his skill to advantage in illustrating his proposals with before and after sketches. What a marketing! Repton worked on several smaller estates and he was very good at fine-tuning already laid out gardens designed by Brown.

The most popular English landscape gardens

Chiswick House and Gardens, London
Claremont Landscape Garden, Surrey
Painshill Park, Surrey
Prior Park Landscape Garden, Somerset
Rousham House and Gardens, Oxfordshire
Stourhead, Wiltshire
Stowe, Buckinghamshrie (the biggest)
Studley Royal, Yorkshire
West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire

As you can see English landscape gardens are beautiful and exciting. I hope that the history and insights into its life made you imagine how a fun day or a garden party be it daytime or night-time would have looked like.

There’s no landscape garden I would not love and I love them all for their own characteristics and beauty. It’s worth exploring all of the above mentioned ones. However, I can’t deny that my heart is taken by the magnificent Stowe.