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For sale: a £3.3m converted orangery with grounds designed by 'Capability' Brown
The five-bedroom property overlooks the work of Britain's 'it' gardener
By Melissa Lawford 29 November 2021 • 6:00am
The Organgery sits in the grounds of Compton Verney House, where Brown overhauled the ornamental canals, extended the lake and landscaped wild flower meadows
The landscape architect Lancelot "Capability" Brown got his nickname from his persistent use of a euphemism.
He was known for telling his clients – a roster of lords and ladies that included none other than King George III and his humble residence at Hampton Court Palace – that their grounds had "capabilities" for improvement. This of course was a genteel way of saying, in other words, that they looked like c***.
The deft blow would come after Brown, an accomplished rider, had assessed an estate on horseback. He would then sketch plans for undulating lawns, serpentine lakes, scatterings of oak, elm and beech trees, and his signature cedar of Lebanon.
Crucially, he was a man who had perfected the subtle art of the ha-ha. These sunken fences achieved the twin goals of uninterrupted views and protection of said lawns from Awol sheep.
Never again since has Britain known such an "it" gardener. Brown became synonymous with social cachet among the 18th century landed gentry. He landscaped the grounds of some 270 stately homes, including Chatsworth House, Blenheim Palace, Harewood House and Petworth.
The property sits in 1.2 acres and has a patio courtyard Credit: James Kerr
But not everyone was a fan. The landowner Sir Uvedale Price likened Brown's clusters of trees to "puddings". The satirical writer Richard Owen Cambridge announced he wanted to die before Brown, so that he could "see heaven before it was 'improved'."
Sir William Chambers, the architect of London's neoclassical Somerset House, compared Brown to "peasants who emerge from the melon grounds to take the periwig and turn professor."
Brown did not live like a peasant. He came from humble Northumberland roots, but gardens were big business. Between 1761 and 1783 the value of his contracted work totalled the equivalent of no less than £718m in today's money.
A glass and wood staircase leads to a glass-walled mezzanine level Credit: James Kerr
Buyers who would quite like to enjoy a "Capability" view without forking out for their own manor can opt to buy a converted orangery in the grounds of Compton Verney House, the historic seat of the Willoughby de Broke family in Warwickshire.
Brown overhauled the formal gardens (complete with ornamental canal) in 1769, extending the lake and planting 2,200 oak and ash saplings.
The five-bedroom property has a Modernist glass and wood staircase and bi-fold doors that open onto a patio courtyard. It is £3.25m with Knight Frank estate agents. Then again, you may decide that the local flora reminds you too much of "puddings".
Buying property,
Warwickshire,
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