In 1793 another Englishman, William Beckford, took over the lease of the estate and explored its natural qualities through the creation of a landscaped garden that emphasised the picturesque, the beautiful and the sublime.
Beckford's departure in 1795 left the property in a state of abandonment but its progressive decay, despite being regretted, deepened a feeling of melancholy that suited the romantic taste, as masterfully expressed by Lord Byron’s poem of 1809.