In episode 1, we discover that the Romans were the first to introduce gardens to England. When Anglo Saxon England emerged from the Dark Ages, European influence returned during the age of the Tudors and Stuarts with an emphasis on geometric patterns and formal features such as knot gardens, axial walks and avenues and the use of topiary. In the late 17th centuries and 18th centuries, the English picturesque movement took off, inspired by an appreciation of the native landscape and, the icons of the ancient world. The work of its chief exponents including William Kent and Capability Brown is still in evidence in the gardens of England’s great stately homes today such as Blenheim Palace, Castle Howard and Stowe.
In Episode 2, we discover that in the English landscape garden geometric structures, alleys, and parterres near the house were eliminated and replaced with rolling lawns and extensive views out to isolated groups of trees, making the landscape seem even larger as designers sought to create an ideal landscape out of the English countryside. Artificial lakes, dams and canals transformed streams or springs into the illusion that a river flowed through the garden. The formality of neat structured lines returned to Victorian gardens but were supplanted again in the 20th with gardeners such as Gertrude Jekyll, Vita Sackville-West and Christopher Lloyd providing the inspiration for many English gardens today. Now in the 21st Century the self-sustaining philosophy of the new perennial garden has taken centre stage in many of the country’s showpiece gardens.