Croome Park

Elegant park in which the English Landscape movement was born.

Croome Park was home to the Earls of Coventry. In 1751 the 6th Earl commissioned a lesser-known but talented and pioneering gardener to develop his extensive gardens and parkland. It was a bold decision which paid off a thousand-fold. The visionary gardener was none other than Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, and his project at Croome Park went down in history as the first complete landscape design - a style which was universally adopted throughout England and Europe.

As any experienced garden visitor would expect, Croome Park boasts all the features typically associated with a landscaped garden. Brown created a lake, replete with a grotto and an artificial river, several attractive 'eye catching' follies and a deliberately winding path which leads the unsuspecting to a series of specially designed vistas. The Malvern Hills provide a dramatic natural backdrop.

In the 1940s the Earls of Coventry left their family home at Croome Park, and this important part of English history was allowed to fall into decline. By 1996 nature had reclaimed much of the land and Brown's carefully planned vistas were cloaked by the advance of weeds and brambles. Now, thanks to the National Trust's ambitious programme of restoration, the estate has been returned to its former glory and visitors can again enjoy the lakeside gardens, rose-scented pleasure grounds and acres of shrubbery which made Croome Park the envy of Europe and beyond.

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