Essex days; Hylands House and Park

There was a passion for symmetry in houses around this time and this is a fine example.

My passion for having a day out saw me walking around this beautiful parkland with my family.

The old stables have remained red brick .

The notable garden designer of the day was Capablity Brown and many fashionable people at that time had their gardens designed by him. When he died in 1783 Humphry Repton took the opportunity to replace him. Repton used his artistic skills to design gardens. He had a limited knowledge of horticulture but had excellent design skills.

Repton would visit places and make detailed drawings with overlays using before and after techniques. These were impressive  and gained him a great following. He coined the term "landscape gardening" for his work.

Cornelius Kortright who owned Hylands from 1797 to 1815 employed Repton to redesign his garden and many of Repton's plans were used and are still evident.

NB the love of symmetry at this time extended to gardens too.

The park is extensive and was being set up for a pop festival with singer Justin Bieber as the main event later this month. We ignored that and had a lovely walk through the park, just about two miles all together.

Everyone thinks of The Serpentine as being in London, which it is. But Hylands Park has The Serpentine too. I prefer this one to London's of course.

Another lovely day out for me.