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British Gardens in Time

Ruairi Fallon

Katie Buchanan

British Gardens in Time: Episode 2: Stowe

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Factual: Homes & Gardens: Gardens

Stowe

Episode 2

Episode 2: Stowe

BBC Four - British Gardens in Time, Stowe

Stowe, the birthplace of the landscape garden, launched the career of Capability Brown.

Series exploring four iconic gardens looks at Stowe, which launched the career of Capability Brown and fostered a rebellion that overthrew the first British prime minister.

Stowe, one of the most remarkable creations of Georgian England, is the birthplace of the landscape garden. Created on a vast scale with 36 temples, eight lakes and a dozen avenues, Stowe launched the career of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown and fostered a rebellion that overthrew the first British prime minister, Robert Walpole. 

Rather than being a garden of flowers and shrubs, Stowe is a garden of ideas and its grottos and classical monuments spell out a furious, coded political manifesto. Stowe's creator, Viscount Cobham, dreamt of climbing to the pinnacle of political power and establishing a long-lived dynasty, but less than a century after his death, his family was to become the most scandalous bankrupts in English history.

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BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Series uncovering the social and horticultural history of four British heritage landscapes

Series which explores four iconic British gardens, from Christopher Lloyd's Arts and Craft Great Dixter to Georgian Stowe and from Victorian Biddulph Grange to the quintessentially English Nyman's.

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Episode 2: Stowe

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