The Country House Podcast8 Jul 2025

'Capability' Brown: Visionary or vandal? | Ep. 84

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is known throughout the world as the master of the English landscape garden. A visionary who created carefully curated, idyllic and natural-looking landscapes at many of the greatest country houses in England, Brown is one of those true 'greats' after whom a whole style is named; the 'Brownian' landscape continues to inspire and entrance gardeners, landscape designers and punters alike.

But Brown's style wasn't without controversy... many felt that his reckless sweeping away of traditional formal gardens and parterres (replacing them with lawns, ha-has and rolling parks) was the height of vandalism.

In this episode, Geoff gives Rory a whistle-stop overview of the life of Capability Brown from his humble birth to sudden death. We discuss the controversies surrounding Brown's style, and reflect on his extraordinary genius and long-term legacy.

Please join us for a 'walk in the [Capability Brown] park' and if you like this episode please like it and write us a review. Please also send in questions for our soon-to-be-resurrected Q&A episodes!

If you enjoy tuning in, please consider supporting us by joining one of our membership tiers on our Patreon page - we love getting to know members of our community. Please also like, share and comment as you see fit. For more information, please visit our website.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(121)

Sissinghurst | A Wound Dressed in Wisteria

In April 1930, a young socialite - cheated of her inheritance by the laws of primogeniture - walked into a Kentish ruin; no electricity, no drains, a farmyard of "squalor and slovenly disorder"... and...

16 Apr 46min

Bournville | The Chocolate Box Utopia

In this episode we travel to Bournville, the extraordinary model village laid out by George Cadbury on the southern fringe of Birmingham. Part garden suburb, part moral experiment, Bournville married ...

9 Apr 43min

The quiet genius of Rousham

Some gardens demand attention. Rousham simply holds it. Tucked into the Oxfordshire countryside, this is a place where design and landscape speak in the same breath - where structure yields to softnes...

21 Mar 34min

Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough

From the marble corridors of Newport to the draughty majesty of Blenheim Palace, Consuelo Vanderbilt was the ultimate 'Dollar Princess' - a woman who was traded in by her parents for a title she neve...

5 Mar 51min

Knowsley Hall Pt. II | With the Earl of Derby

In this second instalment with our special guest, Teddy, the 19th Earl of Derby, we are guided through the magnificent state rooms of Knowsley Hall, the Derby's privately owned stately home that sits ...

20 Feb 41min

Knowsley Hall Pt. I | With the Earl of Derby

Join us for an exclusive 3-part series with the Earl and Countess of Derby at the extraordinary Knowsley Hall!In this episode, we peel back the layers of the Stanley dynasty - a family that turned the...

9 Feb 1h 1min

Almshouses | Architecture for the soul | Ep. 103

In this episode, we explore how guilt-ridden medieval merchants and eccentric Victorian philanthropists built almshouses - so-called 'hospitals of the soul.' We deconstruct the classic almshouse form ...

23 Jan 43min

Big Ben: At the stroke of midnight... | An Architectural Icon | Ep. 102

As the resonant peals of the Great Bell usher in the New Year, we turn our eyes to the Elizabeth Tower; the neo-gothic sentinel that is universally - if erroneously - known as 'Big Ben'!In this New Ye...

4 Jan 50min