A NEW exhibition celebrating the 300th anniversary of one of history’s greatest gardeners opens at Blenheim Palace today.

The park surrounding the Woodstock stately home was one of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown’s most significant projects.

Commissioned by the fourth Duke of Marlborough in 1763, he spent 11 years transforming the palace’s landscaped parkland.

The new exhibition features maps, plans, paintings, pictures, costumes and historic artefacts.

Co-curator Karen Wiseman said: “An interesting aspect of researching this exhibition has been seeing the landscape through other people’s eyes back through time.

“Even while Brown’s plan was being put into effect, tourists flocked to see what was happening.

“From some visitors there was hesitation, which is not surprising as under construction it must have been, at times, a sea of mud.

“Certainly it represented a leap of faith on the part of the fourth Duke.

“Then as the landscape settled and matured the comments became effusively positive.”

Among the highlights is a 10ft recreation of one of Brown’s famous ‘tree-moving machines’ which has been reconstructed by Blenheim Palace’s own carpenters from a single surviving image.

Believed to have been born in 1716, Brown was the most sought-after landscape designer of the 18th century.

He was at the forefront of a new style of naturalistic landscape gardening that replaced formalised, geometric garden layouts with more flowing and open parkland.

Brown reputedly earned his nickname by reassuring his aristocratic clients their estates had the ‘capability’ for improvement.

A new Capability Brown Viewpoints Trail has also been created, highlighting many of his most impressive locations across the estate.

Visitors will also be able to see the viewpoints by horse and carriage rides on selected days throughout spring and summer.

The exhibition costs £14.90 for adults, £10.90 for concessions and £6.90 for children.