brown was the head gardener at stowe 1742-1750. he made the grecian valley at stowe, which, despite its name, is an abstract composition of landform and woodland. lord cobham let brown take freelance commission work from his aristocratic friends, thus making him well known as a landscape gardener. as a proponent of the new english style, brown became immensely sought after by the landed families. by 1751, when brown was beginning to be widely known, horace walpole wrote somewhat slightingly of brown's work at warwick castle: