Newnham Paddox Art Park. Located in Warwickshire just six miles from Rugby, Newnham Art Park is a beautiful open air sculpture garden open to the public form May to October. The park is an 18th Century listed landscape designed by Capability Brown and embodies the 18th century philosophy of a garden being a harmonious extension of with nature rather than a formal construction. Nature and Art lovers are equally welcome

Newnham Paddox and Capability Brown

Lancelot "Capability" Brown was born in Northumberland in 1716. His work in landscape gardening on a grand scale made him one of the most remarkable figure of 18th Century England. His legacy is with us today at Newnham Paddox and elsewhere. Seventeenth Century gardeners drew inspiration from the formal French Style of André Le Nôtre, creator of Versailles. Their successors inevitably sought change and departed from uniformity and formality; their tenet was that gardeners should not impose their designs on the land but rather work with the gifts of landscape and naturally ocurring flora and forest. In this Capability Brown was a master of the art and the politics of his time influenced his work. He acquired clients among Tories and Whigs, but the Whigs favoured him most: his English roots, native style and romantic landscapes symbolized their dislike of continental restraint and formality.