Stow is a large estate in the Aylesbury Valley, north of London.

It contains a large mansion and extensive grounds in the landscape style, which developed in Georgian England in the 18th century and reflected the growing interest in idealized natural landscapes.

This style uses an informal perspective, incorporating neoclassical temples and other structures, and is influenced by landscape painting in its layout.

Story The estate of Stow, located in the charming farming area of ??Aylesbury Vale, was owned from the late 16th century by the Temple family, who made their fortune raising sheep in the valley.

Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham, owned the property from about 1716 until the family fortune was exhausted in 1846, when a grand house and surrounding gardens were built, most of which

It can still be seen today.

The main frontage of the house, almost 1,000 feet long, was the scene of many significant events in Georgian England and is now Stowe School, an English public (i.e. independent fee-paying) school.

The design work of the gardens was completed in the new landscape style by several of the most influential garden designers of the 17th century.

This was a break from earlier formal styles, which, when produced on a large scale, consisted primarily of long, straight grassy landscapes flanked by trees and marked by fountains, obelisks, and other landscape intersections

.

Influenced by European travel, a fashion from Greco-Roman mythology and classical architecture, the gardens were opened up and most of the straight lines removed, replaced by rolling hills and valleys interspersed with informal groves of trees.

The geometrically structured formal gardens close to the house are replaced by grass terraces with views over the gardens or the surrounding countryside.

The goal was to create an idealized natural landscape interspersed with architectural features such as temples, in different styles called Picturesque, Acadian or Jardin Anglo.

In 1716 Viscount Cobham hired garden designer Charles Bridgman to create new gardens around the extension which he was working on the existing mansion.

Bridgman came from humble beginnings as a gardener and rose to the rank of Royal Gardener, and his work at Stow was an early part of his career, modernizing the aristocratic estates.

His work at Stowe was transitional, he still adhered to the geometry of straight lines, building several long walkways lined with elm, chestnut or lime trees, but between these he developed

"Wild", with informal groups of trees and natural contours.

He built lakes, ponds, amphitheaters and temples.

One of his great inventions was the haha.

One difficulty with opening up a landscape is the need to remove hedges and fences.

Since there were no lawn mowers at the time, grazing animals, especially sheep, were used to maintain the large grasslands.

These sheep and deer needed some way to get away from the house itself, and the haha ??was a hidden ditch that wasn't visible from a strategic vantage point, but kept the animals from getting to the house.

Haha became an important necessity in the garden - the name is said to have come from the reaction of bystanders when someone accidentally fell into a hidden ditch.

In the 1630s William Kent gradually took over the design and construction of the gardens.

Kent began his career as an artist and spent several successful years in Rome and Florence.

As he introduced the Palladian style to England, he brought an artist's eye and Italian taste to his garden design and later to his architecture.

At Stow, Kent further developed the garden's landscaped appearance, adding rolling fields, more temples, and other buildings.

In 1741, Lancelo Brown, known as Capabiliy Brown, came to Stow and worked under Kent as a gardener.

Stowe was where Brown became famous for his "improvement" gardens, and he became a magician developing landscape gardens on many estates.

Brown continued to soften the landscape, creating irregular silhouettes of the lake and forming abstract compositions of grass and trees.

When Brown left in 1751, he was replaced by the little-known Richard Woodward, who continued Brown's naturalization process.

The family also used Italian architect Giovanni Baisa Borra to add more temples in the neoclassical style and to modify existing temples.

Some further modifications were made later in the century and by this time the garden had become so famous that it was the first garden to have a guide book written for it.

The garden at that time covered an area of ??400 acres, and the surrounding park area was even larger, with temples and gatehouses inside.

The family, often wealthier than the king, continued to add further features to the gardens, which at one time included a menagerie of rare birds and animals.

By 1847, however, the family was in ruins, its property confiscated by the bailiffs, and the second Duke of Buckingham was forced to flee the country.

His son sold most of the house's contents but left just a small dent in the ￡1m family debt.

It was not until 1922 when the house was turned into Stowe School and attempts were made to restore the gardens that some measures were taken.