Burghley House: restoring the vision of Capability Brown

George London and Moses Cook had worked comprehensively at Burghley in the late 1600s and their extensive formal gardens and avenues can be seen around the house and the parkland. The parkland would most likely have been wood pastures at that time, used for grazing and timber. It was dissected by more than 20 radiating avenues and formal vistas. This type of axial formalism was predominant in Englands large Renaissance gardens, where designers such as London and Henry Wise drew inspiration from the formal French gardens of Andr Le Ntre, who designed the landscape for Versailles.

These gardens required colossal quantities of labour and this, no doubt, had a big influence on their removal.

Brown, having risen meteorically from being an apprentice/under-gardener at a modest estate, was renowned for his nature as God intended it style, which involved removing unsightly buildings (often including houses), formal gardens and arable fields to create his minimalist natural landscapes. His designs allowed for sporting pursuits and were easier to maintain.

At Burghley, Brown proved he was more than just a designer, solving the serious drainage issues in and around the house by creating the large serpentine lake, The New River, which now divides the Middle Park from the Lower Park adjacent to the house. These damp problems were due to a fault line that naturally occurs there where the blue clay and limestone meet. Browns proposals were typically radical.

All of the avenues except two (North Avenue and Queen Annes Avenue) were either clear-felled or had large chunks of them removed. The formal gardens around the house were swept away. Brown was also responsible for alterations to the house and other architectural elements.

Chatsworth: another of Brown's great gardens (ALAMY)

Looking at what he created today illustrates his genius and strengths in many fields aside from aesthetics. Browns knowledge of drainage and soil types was one of his outstanding attributes.

Peter Glassey, the current head of forestry, park and gardens at Burghley, says that several different tree species were used according to the local soil type, indicating an intimate knowledge of soils and what suits them. For instance, Brown planted oaks near the natural spring line (where the clay and limestone meet) where the soil is heavier; elsewhere sweet chestnut is used on the lighter, freer-draining soils with body.

Presumably Brown gleaned much of this knowledge from locals who worked with the land, knew areas intimately and had picked up information from their forebears. Brown also supervised the work. His success was due to his ability as a contractor in seeing the work through to its conclusion. Not only did he have shrewd observational powers and artistic skills but he was a great businessman and worked tremendously hard. He was skilled in planting, building dams and, of course, earth moving. Teams of his men would work to his designs.

Inevitably, sometimes things on site went wrong, with several commissions taking place at once in different parts of the country. But Browns repeated visits ensured that they were usually sorted out.

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Burghley House: restoring the vision of Capability Brown