The Gardens at BrantwoodIn 1872, the most famous cultural critic in Britain moved into a dilapidated cottage in the heart of England's Lake District and swapped his pen for a billhook. John Ruskin's arrival in a landscape already steeped in agricultural history began an evolution that led to the extraordinary gardens at Brantwood today. Ruskin's own gardens reflected his empathy with plants and the natural world, as well as his interests in Dante's poetry and Renaissance