The Leasowes

The estate spans 57 hectares with streams, pools, wooded walks, and ornamental features arranged throughout a carefully designed landscape. Water flows through forested valleys to form larger bodies, while different sections are connected by both natural and constructed elements that shape the visitor's route.

A landowner named William Shenstone transformed this place between 1743 and 1763 to create an ornamental farm as a new kind of landscape design. This work became one of the first examples of the English landscape garden movement and showed a different approach to combining nature with artistic thinking.

The name comes from an old word for enclosed pasture, and visitors experience it today as a place where natural and designed landscapes blend together. The way people walk through the grounds and discover the water features shows how the original concept of an ornamental farm still resonates.

The grounds remain mostly open to visitors but function as a golf club, so it is worth checking ahead about which areas are accessible when you arrive. Comfortable shoes are essential since you will walk forest paths and across varied terrain, while the best views of the water features can be seen from several different spots.

Kitchen garden walls from the 1770s remain standing and show how food was grown to supply the main house. These working areas sit apart from the ornamental landscape, revealing how a large estate actually operated in that era.