Issue 1, 4th Quarter, 2012.

Welcome

to this, Issue One of the Capability Brown 300 Newsletter.

We hope that this newsletter will become the place where all sorts of information and ideas about all of our plans for 2016 are exchanged every quarter. Emails, letters, meetings and telephone calls between many of us have been plentiful recently, but a one stop shop like this newsletter is important, as will be our website, so we can all keep abreast of where we are at regular intervals up to and including 2016, the 300th year since Browns birth. The likelihood is that you have received this newsletter because you were invited to our successful Ampthill seminar earlier this year. This wonderful day gave us great impetus and great heart, so much so that since Ampthill (by way of example) a steering group has been formed, an exhibitions team has started work, a marketing sub-group has been beavering away, TV companies have been engaged, branding and a website have been developed (thanks to the wonderful people at Ferrier Pearce), the Higher Education sector has begun working up research opportunities, funding has been secured into 2013 (thanks to English Heritage and Natural England) the Heritage Lottery Fund wheels have been set in motion and a host organisation (the Landscape Institute) has been identified. The steering group consists of representatives from The Association of Gardens Trusts, English Heritage, The Landscape Institute, The National Gardens Scheme, Natural England, The National Trust The Historic Houses Association, Parks and Gardens UK and Visit Britain under the stewardship of our Chairman Gilly Drummond OBE DL with independent advice from Johnny Phibbs and Hal Moggridge.

In this our first edition, some of the members of the steering group outline what they have been doing with respect to 2016 and why they felt compelled to become involved.

Bridging Gaps

Parks & Gardens UK (Parks and Gardens Data Services Ltd) is a unique on-line resource of historic parks and gardens in the UK, freely accessible to all at www.parksandgardens.org. Developed as a Heritage Lottery Fund project involving over 22,000 hours of volunteer time, largely through County Gardens Trusts members, it now holds information on approximately 6,600 individual sites, 3,800 digital images, and 2,100 biographies of associated people, including gardeners, horticulturalists, botanists, designers, architects, artists and writers. Parks & Gardens UK has become a major resource for education at all levels, for heritage professionals, and for tourism, and is well placed to provide the knowledge base from which information on Brown sites and related topics can be 'pulled into' a dedicated Brown website. Links from the main website to Parks & Gardens UK will allow access to more detailed historic information, possibly collated on a separate Brown webpage with multiple layers of related content such as articles, biographies, educational activities as well as the database site records. Parks & Gardens UK has begun a review of the Brown sites on its database to identify gaps in information and digital images. Working with the Association of Gardens Trusts and other organisations, a research 'campaign' will be developed to fill these 'gaps', and to add or commission associated articles and events. Barbara Simms, October 2012 Eighty Years of Experience to Offer The National Gardens Scheme is a charity that organises the opening of gardens in England and Wales to raise funds for nursing and caring charities. Currently some 3800 gardens are open and raise some 3m annually. A number of gardens currently opening for the NGS and a further group of gardens that have opened in the past, contain Capability Brown landscapes. In addition, the NGS has over

80 years experience of organising the promotion and practical operation of gardens for visitors. Our repository of information about Capability Brown sites that are or have been accessible to visitors, combined with our experience of looking after garden visitors are the core of our contribution to the Partnership. We are certain that the involvement of the NGS will help the Partnership make specific openings into major events and we are able to introduce to the Partnership first-hand involvement in the Third Sector. www.ngs.org.uk George Plumptre, October 2012 Encouraging Volunteers The Association of Gardens Trusts is committed to the project because there will be enormous value in working together closely in partnership with other leading organisations. We hope this will succeed in raising the profile of historic landscapes in general and the work we do towards conservation and research, a legacy that will live on hopefully long after 2016 by inspiring and encouraging more volunteers to engage in caring for their local heritage gardens and landscapes. AGT is a charity that has built up many useful contacts and direct grassroots links countrywide to County Gardens Trust volunteers, gardeners and garden owners, conservation specialists and speakers. We hope to encourage a good number of committed volunteers to the project, to assist with publicity, research and preparation of trail guides, to upload information to Parks and Gardens UK, and to help provide manpower for local events and site visit guides. Since Ampthill, AGT has been active, with other steering group members in facilitating the administration of finances and helping with publicity, including the Vision Statement,

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project logo and website design. We have contributed research towards proposals for a major national exhibition, meeting with experts and sourcing relevant artwork. We are of course extremely proud that our AGT President, Gilly Drummond DL, OBE, a knowledgeable owner of a Brown site in Hampshire, (Cadland), is chairing the Steering Group, bringing her understanding of the concerns of private owners of Brown landscapes and in-depth experience of the challenges of conservation, and driving forward the project with dedicated enthusiasm and energy. www.gardenstrusts.org.uk provide further support through our National Heritage Protection Plan and its research activities. The majority of the Capability Brown landscapes are in private hands, used and cared for by individuals and businesses. We will be working closely with the Partnership to provide advice and support for owners in conserving and opening these landscapes to visitors. English Heritage is also proud to be the custodian for two major Brown landscapes: Wrest Park and Audley End and features such as Roche Abbey, Houghton House and Appuldurcombe House so we will also be very much involved in the 2016 celebrations. www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/registeredparks-and-gardens Jenifer White, October 2012 From our hosts. The Landscape Institute is the Royal Chartered body for landscape architects. As a professional organisation and educational charity, we work to protect, conserve and enhance the natural and built environment for the public benefit. We champion landscape, and the landscape profession, through advocacy and support to our members, in order to inspire great places where people want to live, work and visit. We work with government to improve the planning, design and management of urban and rural landscape. We accredit university courses and promote professional development to ensure that landscape architects deliver the highest standards of practice. The Landscape Institute is delighted to supporting CB300. We will be acting as host for the administration of the campaign and lead agency for fundraising purposes. We will also be putting together our own programme of educational work designed to explore the ways in which the father of landscape architecture continues to inspire the current generation of landscape architects. Find out more: www.landscapeinstitute.org @talklandscape

Mr Brown has been leading me such a Fairy Circle ... his magic Wand has raised such landscapes to the Eye, not Visionary for they were all there, but his Touch has brought them out with the same Effect as a Painters Pencil upon Canvass
(Jemima, Marchioness de Grey re Wimpole, Cambridgeshire ) Steffie Shields, October 2012 A letter from Moscow Last night someone asked me what I was doing in England and I mentioned the tercentenary. So what do you want to do? he asked, and I told him we wanted to open up all of Browns landscapes in 2016 and to show off what he did there; and we want a major exhibition in London in the same year. He says, Why put yourselves to so much trouble? Surely if fifty parks could be got to open it would be enough? This comment made me pause for thought. There is no question that my vision is ambitious and there is still a long way to go. We need to get more Brown owners and managers on board. We are only in the early stages of putting in place the necessary research programmes to enable us to illuminate his architectural work, his relationships with the painters who were his contemporaries, or anything else; mounting a major exhibition in London will require much effort; and we are still working on getting the support of a sponsor. And then I look at how far we have come support from so many major organisations, a logo that seeks to act as a quality mark, a TV production company looking at commissioning a three-part programme, a steering group in place and chairman appointed etc. An exhibition in London will require much effort but we have already assembled an illustrated booklet of ideas for themes, material and layout and we are in discussion with some big hitters. So my vision may be ambitious but there is no doubt in my mind that a duty is owing to this man, he has long been taken for granted. Opening fifty parks is not enough; we want to see them all! We are inspired and we are aspirational! We shall not be doing our duty if we only do the easy thing. Together I know we can make this happen. www.debois.org.uk John Phibbs, October 2012. A fantastic opportunity! Join us! English Heritage is pleased to be able to support the development of the Partnerships Heritage Lottery Fund bid through funding the Ampthill pilot and the project coordinator post. The 2016 tercentenary is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate our designed landscape heritage. It is an important part of our national story. We're also looking to

Paul Lincoln, November 2012

How could you be involved? For sponsorship opportunities and more, contact adam.clarke@capabilitybrown.org

Johnny Phibbs (centre) and delegates reading the Ampthill landscape from the Millbrook Clump, Bedfordshire, June 2012, and looking towards 2016 ...