THIS four-part series takes a close look at four iconic gardens created during four very different eras – each garden offering a fascinating window into a different century and the people that created it.

Stowe, one of the most remarkable creations of Georgian England, is the birthplace of the landscape garden.

Created on a vast scale with 36 temples, eight lakes, and a dozen avenues, Stowe launched the career of Launcelot ‘‘Capability’’ Brown and fostered a rebellion that overthrew the first British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole.

Rather than being a garden of flowers and shrubs, Stowe is a garden of ideas, and its grottos and classical monuments spell out a furious, coded political manifesto.

Stowe’s creator, Viscount Cobham, dreamed of climbing to the pinnacle of political power and establishing a longlived dynasty.

But less than a century after his death, his family was to become one of the most scandalous bankrupts in the history of England.