empty for the next two decades until its sale, starting a steady decline that continues to this day. The Gardens The 3rd Earl, approached Capability Brown to remodel the grounds of the Castle. He turned down the commission due to the flatness of the estate, which he described as having 'no capability'. In 1830, Charles Stanhope, 4th Earl of Harrington commissioned landscape gardener William Barron to redesign the gardens. The Fourth Earl caused scandal by marrying an actress 17 years his junior: Maria Foote. Maria and Charles were described as "inseparable and besotted"; the Earl wanted the gardens to be a "private and secluded oasis of great beauty" for himself and the love of his life. Barron would spend the next 20 years working on the gardens; he even brought in full-grown trees using a tree planting machine he had designed (an example of which is on display at Kew Gardens) to try to give instant gratification to the Earl. The Fourth Earl and his Countess valued their garden for the romantic seclusion it afforded them, however following the death of their only son aged 4, the couple isolated themselves at the castle, never leaving and forbidding anyone from entering the grounds. (Some sources claim it was the Earl that instigated the seclusion and forbade his wife from leaving) Following the Fourth Earl's death in 1851, his brother, Leicester Stanhope, 5th Earl of Harrington, opened the gardens to the public. They became renowned as "a Gothic paradise", and are Grade II Listed. The estate contains over 50 structures, including stables, kennels, a walled garden, a home farm, several cottages, gatelodges, an ice house and a boathouse. The gardens are listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Country park Following the Countryside Act 1968, the estate was sold in 1969 by William Stanhope, 11th Earl of Harrington to Derbyshire County Council. By The Countryside Act proposed the creation of "country parks", "for the enjoyment of the countryside by the public". The council opened the estate to the public in 1970 and have operated it since then, as Elvaston Castle Country Park. In 1969, Elvaston was also used as a location for Ken Russell's film adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence novel Women in Love. Today The deterioration of the castle and estate which started after World War II continued until the 1970s. Although restoration work was carried out