Volunteer Voices

A “Bloedel-like” experience in England

One of my favorite activities at Bloedel Reserve is learning about how Prentice and Virginia worked with major landscape architects such as Thomas Church and Richard Haag to design the beautiful spaces we so enjoy today. Landscape architects create spaces that often look effortless but are really the result of careful planning and design and a vision of the future.

So, it was a delight to re-examine one of my own favorite places, the landscape of Blenheim Palace. This past June I had the opportunity to return to the little village of Woodstock in Oxfordshire where I used to live. The village is home to Blenheim Palace. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and of England’s largest houses. It was built between 1705 and 1722, while the house is magnificent, my interest on this visit was the landscape! I must have walked around Blenheim hundreds of times: when my children were little feeding the ducks, countless family walks after Sunday lunch, and of course sharing the beauty with so many visitors during my time in the UK, but this year I had a particular interest in revisiting the landscape and my thoughts turned to that of the landscape designer, Capability Brown.

Brown designed hundreds of parks and gardens in Britain, and he is known for developing the natural-looking English landscape. Brown’s style was predicated on three principles: comfort, economy and elegance. His landscapes were always designed on a grand scale surrounded by woodland, trees and contoured spaces. He often included lakes, water features and unique architectural features such as bridges.  His obituary states, “so closely did he copy nature that his works will be mistaken.”

When I walk around Bloedel Reserve, I can’t help but think Prentice and Virginia would have been inspired by Blenheim!  What do you think? Take a look at some of my photos from June. The lake even has swans! Virginia would approve.

For further information on Capability Brown, visit the national trust site: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/people/who-was-lancelot-capability-brown

For further information on his contributions at Blenheim: https://www.blenheimpalace.com/stories/capability-brown/