Kirkharle Estate in Northumberland is set to receive a makeover using 270-year-old plans by none other than legendary garden designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

Brown, who earned his nickname from the way he used to comment on the “capabilities” of an estate, designed some of the UK’s most iconic gardens – including Stowe, Chatsworth House, Blenheim Palace and Kew Gardens – in his lifetime between 1716 and 1783.

Fittingly enough – as Kirkharle was his hometown – these particular plans are rumoured to be the first he ever drew and had been forgotten until 1980 when they were found in a desk by the current landowner John Anderson.

Anderson has already transformed the estate, which he inherited in a state of disrepair, into a collection of craft businesses that receive 50,000 visits a year.

He hopes now that the plans for the 1,200-acre estate, once completed, will attract a further 25,000 visits per year.

The Forestry Commission – which has already offered a grant of £4,000 – and Natural England are backing the scheme, which includes blocks containing beech, oak, Scots pine, shrubs and fruit trees, as well as a serpentine lake.