Petworth Park Gardens

There are many gardens in Sussex that are reputedly the work of Lancelot “Capability” Brown, the super-guru of parkland landscaping, but few that definitely were designed by the great man. The gardens of Petworth Park can justly make such a claim.

Capability Brown was hired in 1751 and he left hardly a square foot of the gardens untouched. The elements used were simple – small clumps of trees, rolling grassland and lakes - all used to create agreeable vistas, especially from Petworth House itself.

"...curves in all the right places"

If the result looks impressively natural, the amount of work involved in creating this natural effect is astounding. Brown’s records show that around 70,000 tons of soil and clay were shifted to create to ensure that Petworth had curves in all the right places.

The wooded Pleasure Garden contains a rotunda and Doric temple. The Gardens have plenty of monuments and sculptures and the huge wall that surrounds Petworth Park stretches for 14 miles and winds its way menacingly through the town of Petworth.

Petworth Park is full of fallow deer. The National Trust, who look after Petworth House and Petworth Park, claims the deer are the oldest herd in England.

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