ARCADIA

In a large country house in Derbyshire in April 1809 sits Lady Thomasina Coverly
, aged thirteen, and her tutor, Septimus Hodge. Through the window may be seen s
ome of the '500 acres inclusive of lake' where Capability Brown's idealized land
scape is about to give way to the 'picturesque' Gothic style: 'everything but va
mpires', as the garden historian Hannah Jarvis remarks to Bernard Nightingale wh
en they stand in the same room 180 years later. Bernard has arrived to uncover t
he scandal which is said to have taken place when Lord Byron stayed at Sidley Pa
rk.