CROOME PARK BRIDGES 1796 Worcestershire N52o 47' 30.2" W2o 1' 45.3"
For the last 12 years, the National Trust has been restoring the gardens of Capability Brown's first commission whose naturalistic concept revolutionized English landscape design which until then had been following the highly stylized design of Italian and French gardens. In 1751, the First Earl of Coventry also commissioned Robert Adams and then James Wyatt to redo the house and the parkland buildings in the new Palladian or Georgian style. This pair of white wrought iron bridges providing access to the lake islands were designed by Wyatt and built by John Mackell, who was well-known in the area for his iron work. They seem very modern to our eyes because of their elegant simplicity. (There is a modern bridge nearby, painted black, which is similar to them but which just misses achieving their graceful proportions).
This site is well signed from A38 between Worcester and Tewksbury starting in Severn Stoke. The problem comes in finding your way out in the confusing maze of small villages and country roads which are not signed in reverse. Memorize your lefts and rights as you go in!