IT must have been the garden makeover of all time. Long before the chattering Titchmarsh and the lusty Dimmock were let loose on suburban plots, Lancelot Brown put down the marker for this sort of work.

His transformation of the boggy acres around Croome Court, the Palladin mansion between Pershore and Upton-upon-Severn, remains a classic of its kind.

The fact it was achieved 250 years ago, long before JCBs, mobile cranes or concrete mixers were a rumble in the far distance of mechanical invention, makes it all the more impressive.

Of course what Brown had in abundance was manpower.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of men laboured by hand to turn his vision of an English parkland landscape into reality.

Rivers and lakes were dug, paths and roads laid down and an army of trees and shrubs were planted.

It made the reputation of Brown, which until then had been fairly low key. His most important position had been head gardener at Stowe, but suddenly he was being hailed in the best circles as "Capability" Brown.

All the more pity that in the second half of the 20th Century it all fell apart.

Belt tightening after the Second World War forced the Coventry family to sell Croome Court in 1948 and the grand old building passed through various phases, some of them rather depressing for locals who loved it.

Today it has reverted to being a fine family home, although without the adjacent physical accoutrements it enjoyed as the centre of a great estate, such as stabling, coach houses and staff accommodation, most of which has been subject to the ubiquitous "barn conversion" process.

In 1981, Royal & Sun Alliance bought the park and farmed most of the land.

But thankfully the conservationists' interest in Croome never waned completely and with the advent of the National Lottery in the 1990s, money became available to help.

Although it declined to buy Croome Court itself, in 1996 the National Trust used Heritage Lottery funds, plus a generous donation from Royal & Sun Alliance, to buy Croome Park.

This consisted of the 670 acres immediately surrounding the house that comprised Brown's inspirational work.

A 10-year restoration plan was promptly put into action to revive Capability's dream. The surveyors arrived clutching original maps, so did the mechanical diggers, so did the plantsmen.

The first 10-year plan is due to finish in 2006, but so well has it been received, a follow-up 10-year plan is already being prepared.

This Easter thousands will flock to Croome on the Landscape Park's first real big day of the season and what awaits them, given the right weather, is a magical vista.

It is also probably how Brown saw his work all those years ago.

"It takes time for a landscape scheme to mature," said Croome's visitor services assistant, Wendy Carter, "and Capability Brown would not have seen a park of fully grown oak or yew trees or even shrubs or plants before him.

"These are sights that only future generations would enjoy to the full."

In fact, it took 60 years before Brown's design for Croome was fully developed and it remained a fashionable tourist destination for another 40 before decline set in.

As part of the 10-year plan, the National Trust has developed a rolling programme of returning the park's arable land back to Brown's pasture. A total of 14 acres of shrubberies have been planted with 10,000 shrubs and the 2003-2004 winter saw the planting of 2,000 parkland trees.

Last summer, for the first time since 1760, the lake was drained and dredged. Brown's vision had been of meadows and grassy banks gently sloping into crystal clear "mirrored" water that would reflect and magnify the park. But due to agricultural run-off over time and the pollution of the M5 since the 1060s, the water had become silted and dirty.

Now three wetland areas have been created to filter water before it reaches the lake.

"The National Trust has been fortunate at Croome because it's had access to some of the most complete archives in the country," Wendy added.

"The Coventry family kept all the records, receipts and documents relation to the planting programme."

In particular, three estate maps from 1763, 1796 and 1810 show Croome's development in meticulous detail.

These maps, supported by archaeology and geophysics, have been used to determine the original position of paths, planting and even individual trees.

The head gardener's bills from the 1760s to the early 19th Century provide evidence of how the landscape was created and maintained.

Contemporary accounts of visits to Croome and the guide book written by William Dean, head gardener in 1824, create a vivid picture of what the gardens were like in their heyday.

Gradually, in 2004, former glories are being restored.