英式庭园起源于十八世纪的英国园艺造景。建造的灵感，来自于十七世纪法国画家普桑(Nicolas Poussin)、克罗德·洛林(Claude Lorrain)和北欧风景画家诗情画意的明媚风景画，此外，还深受英国诗人普贝(Pope)抒情的田园诗和中国园林的影响。

在哲学家卢骚(Rousseau)朴素的自然思潮和废墟画家于柏特．罗伯尔(Hubert Robert)的影响下，法国候爵佶拉尔丹(Girardin)将巴黎近郊的艾美诺于尔(Ermenon Ville)，改造为法国首座自然的英国花园后，在十八世纪中期更是掀起建造英式花园的风潮。

The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (French:Jardin à l'anglaise, Italian:Giardino all'inglese, German:Englischer Landschaftsgarten, Portuguese:Jardim inglês, Spanish:Jardín inglés), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical jardin à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The English garden presented an idealized view of nature. It drew inspiration from paintings of landscapes by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin, and, in the Anglo-Chinese garden, from the classic Chinese gardens of the East, which had recently been described by European travellers. The English garden usually included a lake, sweeps of gently rolling lawns set against groves of trees, and recreations of classical temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape. The work of Lancelot "Capability" Brown was particularly influential. By the end of the 18th century the English garden was being imitated by the French landscape garden, and as far away as St. Petersburg, Russia, in Pavlovsk, the gardens of the future Emperor Paul. It also had a major influence on the form of the public parks and gardens which appeared around the world in the 19th century.