The south front of Croome Court seen across the lake. ©NTPL/Andrew Butler
The National Trust has started a project called Outdoor Nation to examine the British public’s relationship with the outdoors.
Visitor walking in the park, with a view to the church, designed by Brown to act as an eye-catcher. ©NTPL/Arnhel de Serra
Have we lost touch with nature? What benefits do we get from being outdoors that we cannot get through other experiences?
The Rotunda. ©NTPL/Andrew Butler
Croome Court, in Worcestershire, is a great example of a designed landscape that allows people to reconnect with nature.
©NTPL/David Noton
It was created by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown during the second half of the eighteenth century for George William Coventry, later the sixth Earl of Coventry.
The icehouse - evocative, but obviously in need of restoration. ©NTPL/Andrew Butler
Croome established Brown’s reputation as the creator of the new English landscape style garden. Robert Adam and James Wyatt also contributed various garden buildings.
Urn by Robert Adam, park by Lancelot Brown, sky stylist's own. ©NTPL/David Noton
In the 1940s an RAF airbase was built on the estate, and in 1948 the house was sold off. In 1996 the National Trust acquired the heart of the estate, with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, and began to restore the landscape.
©NTPL/David Noton
The house has recently been acquired by the Croome Heritage Trust, which is working with the National Trust to allow visitors to experience Croome as a whole once again.
November 5, 2010 at 15:17 |
love the sky comment!
November 5, 2010 at 15:28 |
Yes it is only the sky that escapes the pervasive branding, and then only just
November 5, 2010 at 15:39 |
Again, seeing an image of a person walking the grounds of a NT property changes the perspective. Croome seems to synthesize the best of nature and man’s designs. Perfect post for a Friday. (Brilliant sky caption!)
November 5, 2010 at 15:56 |
Thanks Courtney – yes I should try to feature more images with people.
November 5, 2010 at 16:55 |
Is the iron footbridge XVIIIC as well? I thought, but that may just be my ignorance, that ironwork this scale would not have happened until the 1820s or so, if that.
A brilliant blog, which makes one want to explore more of England. Us Continentals tend to stick far too much to London and the south.
November 5, 2010 at 17:08 |
François-Marc, I am so pleased that this inspires you. Apparently the first of the wrought-iron bridges at Croome was made in 1795, replacing earlier wooden ones. But as you suggest they must have been quite advanced at that time.
November 5, 2010 at 20:04 |
Beautiful photographs, especially of the bridge over the water.
I’ve just looked at the chapter on Croome Court in The Genius of Robert Adam where there is a lovely, stark black and white photograph of the garden front. The caption says the garden or south front was built by Brown to designs by Sanderson Miller. All that apart, the photographs in this post are very nostalgic for an ex-pat.
November 6, 2010 at 15:00 |
Blue, yes that shot through the bridge is magical, isn’t it? Graduated light, reflections, framing, nature, architecture – it’s got everything.
I must get that book, which is supposed to be excellent, and improve my paltry knowledge of Adam.
November 10, 2010 at 23:23 |
I think Capability Brown would most heartily approve of the Trust’s initiative. He had an extraordinary ability to make a landscape seem impressive in scale, but approachable in nature.
November 11, 2010 at 07:03 |
That is a good characterisation: impressive enought to confim one’s status, but approachable enough to encourage other ‘polite’ people to enjoy it.