'Capability' to finally get his garden

19:38 20th February 2009

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown created hundreds of the UK's top gardens and was an inspiration to generations of garden and landscape designers.

However, a vision he had when he was just 23 years old for the Kirkharle estate in his native Northumberland was never made a reality.

His plans lay dormant in a cabinet for more than a quarter of a millennium until current landowner John Anderson discovered them.

Mr Anderson explained to the Independent how he hopes to use the plans to build one last Capability landscape and how they show that, even as a young man, he liked to let nature be the focal point of his designs.

"Brown was a great believer in highlighting nature as it is rather than as something artificial. He didn't believe in formal gardens," he said.

"He wanted to make something much more natural and part of the landscape - to create something pleasing to the eyes and exciting; to make people go round the corner to enjoy the view."

One of the better known works of Brown is Hyde Park in London.