Stowe Landscape Gardens

Garden

Explorer Tom

Stowe Landscape Gardens near Buckingham is what happens when an eighteenth-century family treats an entire valley as a drawing room and then loses the measuring tape. Paths, lakes and temples appear to have arranged themselves for your entrance; frankly, I suspect the trees are still rehearsing their positions at night. The Temple-Grenville family reshaped this estate over generations, hiring Charles Bridgeman, William Kent and, later, Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. Brown's Grecian Valley began in 1746 and involved moving a tremendous amount of earth. The result looks effortless, which is precisely the cheeky trick: an apparently natural scene planned to look utterly spontaneous. Follow a path and a view opens just when the garden wants you to notice it. This is a garden visit, not a promise of entry to Stowe House, which has its own use. Within the National Trust's 250 acres, the Elysian Fields, lakes, Temple of British Worthies and other monuments turn a walk into a series of theatrical reveals. Autumn brings colour from beech, larch and liquid amber, while the water doubles the spectacle on still days. The old New Inn recalls the travellers who arrived here long before satnav. The National Trust publishes daily opening times for the gardens and park, with ticketed entry and free parking at New Inn. From the car park it is roughly an 800-metre walk to the garden; an assistance buggy can be requested, and some paths are uneven or steep. Dogs are welcome on leads through the gardens and parkland. Give yourself time to wander instead of sprinting to a single temple: Stowe's finest joke is making a carefully staged surprise feel like your own discovery.