Hoo Does Your Garden Grow

The legacy of England’s greatest landscape designer, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, will go on show when Luton Hoo hosts its first garden open day.

Many of his original 18th century designs can still be seen on the 1,065-acre estate and Elite Hotels has embarked on a painstaking restoration and conservation project to restore the gardens to their former glory.

Visitors to the open day on Sunday, May 18th, will be able to see the progress to date, including the magnificent terraced formal gardens with a centrepiece fountain that is back in full working order for the first time in 15 years. Other highlights include the Victorian grass tennis court where the original pavilion, which can be rotated to follow the sun, is undergoing full restoration.

Luton Hoo was a landmark project for Capability Brown, who was responsible for over 170 gardens surrounding the finest country houses and estates in Britain. Brown was hired by two successive owners of the estate and Luton Hoo was one of his largest and most significant projects, second only to Blenheim Palace in terms of size and investment.

Keith Hersey, who has been head gardener on the estate for more than 20 years, and members of his gardening team will be on hand to give visitors a fascinating insight into the gardens. Luton Hoo is listed in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest and Elite Hotels is committed to a 10-year restoration programme. Before work commenced specialist landscape architects and historians were engaged to research the estate and carry out ecological surveys so the project could follow Capability Brown’s original designs.

Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa General Manager Richard Baker said: “Although relatively unknown compared to some of his other gardens, such as Kew, Chatsworth House, Hampton Court and Warwick Castle, Luton Hoo was one of Brown’s largest projects and as a result it is an estate of national historic significance. There has been a lot of interest in the gardens since Elite Hotels bought Luton Hoo so we are delighted to be hosting our first open garden day to give local people and garden enthusiasts the opportunity to walk around with members of the garden team.

“Brown’s layout was designed to enhance the mansion’s superb rural setting, and particularly exploit the beautiful valley running from the mansion house towards the River Lea. His main task was to show off Luton Hoo’s four most important categories of views, from the windows of the mansion, from other buildings on the estate, from the approaches and from the walks and drives.”

The garden will be open from 11am to 4pm, entrance costs £5 and a range of refreshments will be available.