Wrest Park from the lake
This could almost be Chatsworth in Derbyshire and that's because Capability Brown had a hand in both. It's actually Wrest Park, Bedfordshire.
Looking like a French chateau, this house was at Wrest Park dates from the 1830s, set in C18th grounds. The formal gardens and canal were created by Amabel Benn, and his son, Anthony, the 11th Earl of Kent in the 1700s and improved upon by successive generations.
In 1833, Thomas Robinson, 2nd Earl de Grey inherited the estate. He demolished the old house and built a new one between 1834 – 39.
Since 1900 its fortunes have changed. It was rented to the American ambassador for a while and used as a convalescent home and military hospital in WWI but in 1916 a fire meant they were evacuated and never returned. In 1917 it was sold and then fell into decline. From 1948 it was home to the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering, later the Silsoe Research Institute. When they closed in 2006, English Heritage took over. the house.
Wrest Park from the lake
This could almost be Chatsworth in Derbyshire and that's because Capability Brown had a hand in both. It's actually Wrest Park, Bedfordshire.
Looking like a French chateau, this house was at Wrest Park dates from the 1830s, set in C18th grounds. The formal gardens and canal were created by Amabel Benn, and his son, Anthony, the 11th Earl of Kent in the 1700s and improved upon by successive generations.
In 1833, Thomas Robinson, 2nd Earl de Grey inherited the estate. He demolished the old house and built a new one between 1834 – 39.
Since 1900 its fortunes have changed. It was rented to the American ambassador for a while and used as a convalescent home and military hospital in WWI but in 1916 a fire meant they were evacuated and never returned. In 1917 it was sold and then fell into decline. From 1948 it was home to the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering, later the Silsoe Research Institute. When they closed in 2006, English Heritage took over. the house.