visit – Page 37 – My Days Out Blog

Stowe Landscape Gardens, Bucks.

National Trust.
The National Trust acquired the gardens in 1990, and since then have restored over 40 temples and monuments in the Georgian gardens, said to be the most influential landscape gardens in Europe. There are lakes, trees and valleys, with a variety of walks and vistas occupying a wide area. Checking out all the monuments and visiting the furthest reaches of the park can take many hours.
I have visited the park on several occasions and usually find something fresh to enjoy each time. The Park part-surrounds Stowe School, so if you visit in term-time, don’t be surprised to encounter some of the jeunesse dorée at leisure.
Aug 2012 update: A new NT visitor reception (New Inn) opened early 2012 at the opposite end of the Gardens. Road access from Buckingham is now shorter and simpler. There is a 500 metre walk or land-train ride from the New Inn car park to the new garden entrance. The refurbished New Inn visitor reception is worth a visit.

After visiting the Park, you might take up the challenge of visiting some of the outlying monuments. The Corinthian Arch which dominates the usual approach from Buckingham is easy to access – just drive up to it (or walk back from the new visitor centre). The Wolfe Obelisk, 100 ft high, is accessible from the far end of the old NT car park, (MK18 5DQ) a few hundred yards past the Stowe School entrance, as is the small Conduit House, an octagonal pavilion. “Stowe Castle” can be viewed through binoculars if you stand in the right spot near the Gothic Temple, and the back of it can be acccessed by road. (There is now a set of rural industrial units next to it). There are one or two others in outlying positions including the Bourbon Tower, closer to the gardens than the Wolfe Obelisk, but obscured by trees and with no obvious path to it.
The route to the Bourbon Tower (pic. below) starts near the far end of the old NT car park, at the same point as the path to the Wolfe Obelisk. A weathered signpost points towards the Wolfe Obelisk, and, in the opposite direction, to the Bourbon Tower. Walk alongside the private road leading to the Stowe playing fields, and at the T junction cross over it and enter the field ahead containing a small obelisk and the Tower. From this field one also has a clear view of “Stowe Castle”. The tower has a ditch and the remains of a wall surrounding it; the entrance is on the far side. The tower is in poor condition, with former windows blocked up. There is an interesting hole under the outer wall, which leads to a small rectangular stone-lined chamber, possibly an ice-house.

Obelisk near Bourbon Tower — Small Obelisk nr. Bourbon

Stowe New Inn courtyard — New Inn courtyard

Stanford Hall, Leicestershire

Private
The Hall is a fine symmetrical building of the William & Mary period, set in an extensive grassy park. Set back to one side are the stables and other service buildings, arranged around courtyards, with vegetable gardens behind. The house has some grand rooms, notably the Ballroom, grandly resplendent in pink and gold, and having a fine coved ceiling with four trompe l’oeil shell corners. The Library contains five thousand books, as well as many interesting manuscripts, the oldest dating from 1150. Other rooms contain objects collected by the family over the centuries. Drawing rooms overlook the Park. Upstairs, grand bedrooms contain four poster beds and tapestries.
As one can see from the website picture, the driveway heads straight for the centre of the house, before veering aside towards a parking area in front of the stables. The present house entrance is here, up a flight of steps at the side of the house and into a narrow central passage. The house is open infrequently, and my 2011 visit seemed more like former times, when the genteel visitor would turn up at the gates and be shown around the house by a servant, than like a slick National Trust operation. Our tour was hastily adjusted so that we could see the Ballroom before the owner occupied it for a pre-booked private function. The ballroom, with its coved and painted ceiling, is quite impressive, and the other grand rooms are worth seeing. We were not shown many of the upstairs rooms. I would have liked to have been able to find out a bit more about some of the objects on display.
In 2024, I had a tour of the downstairs and upstairs rooms, with many of the objects on display being described by the guide. The Ballroom’s painted ceiling has been cleaned since my last visit.
In the Stable block, there is a large tea-room upstairs, a souvenir shop, and an unusual replica of an 1898 flying machine. This is a full size replica of “The Hawk”, one of four flying machines designed and successfully flown by Lt Percy Pilcher RN, a friend of the 6th Lord Braye. Pilcher was killed flying “The Hawk” at Stanford in 1899. A walled garden lies behind the stable block.
The River Avon, dammed to make a lake, flows near one side of the house, and a long pond is on the other side. The Stanford church (turn left as you leave the estate) contains several impressive monuments to past residents of the Hall and is worth a visit.
In 2024, the house was open for two weeks around Easter, plus on a few other dates in conjunction with ‘special events’ in the Park, or Bank Holidays.
website: http://www.stanfordhall.co.uk
All pictures 2024. For interiors, see Stanford Hall website.

Lamport Hall, Northants.

Private trust, HHA
The Hall was originally a Tudor manor house, and was given its present Classical frontage in the 17th-18th century. It contains a number of fine rooms. The Hall, now owned by a preservation trust, contains a wealth of fine furniture, books and paintings collected by the Isham family. Most were bought during the third Baronet’s Grand Tour of Europe, in the 1670s. They include portraits by Van Dyck, Kneller, Lely and others. Adjacent to the house is the stable yard, a paved square surrounded by a warren of old buildings.
The gardens to one side of the house include a tall Alpine rockery, the earliest Alpine garden in England, and formerly peopled with minature figures, the world’s first garden gnomes. Today the gardens include extensive herbaceous borders and shrubbery walks containing some rare and interesting plants. House and gardens are set in an extensive grassy park.
Along the village lane near the house are some interesting old buildings which were part of the same estate.

When I first visited Lamport there was an antique fair being held in the stable block, and while I didn’t buy anything I did have an excuse to explore all the old buildings around the stable square. The house and gardens were also open to visitors. The house is quite handsome, and the interiors and collections are interesting. The first floor has undergone extensive restoration, having suffered the kind of rampant decay all too common in old buildings, and now contains further exhibits.
The Church, visible from the front lawn, looks interesting but is kept locked.
Note that visitor access is from the A508, while the visitor exit (and trade entrance) is to the High St.
Revisited July 2024.

Hughenden Manor, Bucks.

National Trust.
The house, originally built towards the end of the 18th century, was bought by Victorian prime minister and novelist Benjamin Disraeli, who had it radically re-modelled in a Gothic style. The three-storey brick house is surounded by formal gardens, park and woodlands totalling 1500 acres. The west wing of the house was added in 1910. During the second world war, the house was used as a secret intelligence base, where aerial photography of Germany was analysed, and maps made for bombing missions.
Today, the fine gothic-styled ground floor rooms are displayed with rich furnishings and contents, and windows overlooking the garden. Upstairs, the Disraelis’ bedroom has been re-created, and his study is now much as he left it. In the basement and elsewhere are displays about the house’s WWII role. I enjoyed exploring the extensive gardens and park.

Revisited 27 May 2021: The NT have now gained some rooms in the west end of the house, formerly rented out, and turned them into exhibition space for a new exhibition devoted to the WWII mapmaking. At the time of my visit, the basement and upstairs were closed.

Marble Hill House, London

English Heritage.
This elegant white Palladian house overlooking the Thames was built for Henrietta Howard, mistress of King George II when he was Prince of Wales. She was also friend of some of the cleverest men in England. It retains its 66 acres of riverside parkland, while the interior has been restored, and some of its dispersed original contents bought back. There are exhibits downstairs, while upstairs the principal saloon has been finely restored and hung with large paintings. Worth a visit.
It appears that the house is now open only on Sat, Sun & bank holiday Mondays, and is by a 1½ hour guided tour once or twice daily.

Ham House, London

National Trust.
A great red-brick palace by the Thames, largely created in its present form by Elizabeth, Countess of Dysart, in the 17th century. There are lavish interiors and many paintings and objets d’art. Outside, the formal seventeenth-century layout of the gardens, in which the garden is devised as a series of contrasting compartments, is being re-created. Typically, the treed ‘wilderness’area is actually designed with walks and hornbeam hedges, and four little summerhouses. East of the house a period kitchen garden is being restored, and used to grow vegetables. There is an orangery and other outhouses.
There is plenty for the visitor to look at, both inside and out. A half-day visit is suggested, and a ferry ride across the river is Marble Hill House (EH).

Fotheringay Castle, Northants.

This castle, with its Mary Queen of Scots asociations, is probably the most romantic castle site in England,and a magnet for visitors. Too bad that it doesn’t exist any more; you can visit the castle mound, but all that visibly remains of the great castle is a tumbled chunk of masonry at the foot of the mound that might have come from its walls.
As a consolation prize, the village has many attractive buildings in honey coloured stone, and the great 15th Century Collegiate Church should be worth a visit. (I didn’t see it when I visited the “castle” as I knew nothing about it.)

Farnborough Hall, Oxfordshire

National Trust.
The house, a restrained building of honey-coloured stone, remains largely as created in 1745 to 1750 by its owner William Holbech, probably with help from architect Sanderson Miller. The front door opens into an Italianate hall with rococo plasterwork ceiling. Other grand rooms with fine plasterwork follow.
Outside, the grounds have a lake, and Farnborough’s most distinguishing feature, a long curving grassy terrace that rises for ¾ mile giving panoramic views over the surrounding country. Hedges mask the steep drop below the terrace, and it is backed by a line of trees and shrubbery. Partway up is a little pedimented temple with Ionic columns, and further along is a two-storey domed pavilion. A curving stone staircase gives access to the upper room, which has rococo plasterwork and fine views out. At the end of the terrace is an obelisk.

Elton Hall, Cambs.

The Elton Hall estate is near Peterborough, and the 3800 acre estate straddles the Northants/Cambs. county boundary.
The Hall is a remarkable building of somewhat castellated and part-Gothic appearance, of 15th century origins but with 17th, 18th and 19th century additions.
Inside are a number of grand rooms with fine decoration and furnishings. There is a notable collection of paintings.
The formal gardens adjacent to the house were laid out in 1913 and restored in the 1980s. The Gothic orangery was built to celebrate the Millenium. I didn’t spend much time in the impressive gardens on my visit as the weather was wet.
House and gardens are set in 200 acres of parkland. Also on the estate are a garden centre and a restaurant.
House and gardens provide enough to look at to occupy the visitor for the 3 hours opening time (2-5pm). Opening dates are somewhat restricted. The retail outlets, on the other hand, are open daily.

Western Heights, Dover, Kent

These Napoleonic fortifications are on the cliff-top a mile from the Castle. Much of the fort is not open, but there is a path along part of the fortifications. There is a short interpretation trail around St Martin¹s Battery, and a longer (1 mile) trail around the former Grand Shaft Barracks. The Grand Shaft is open only on a limited basis.
The area can be awkward to find – look for a car park and stop to examine the signage. It can make an interesting walk.