Buscot Park into

Tuesday we headed into the county of Gloucester to visit Buscot Park, a Palladian style house built in the early 1780's for a local landowner Edward Lovedon Townsend. He in turn sold the property to an Australian, Robert Tertius Campbell, who turned it into the most highly mechanised farm in the country. On his death in 1887 Buscot was bought by a financier, Alexander Henderson, who set about enlarging the house and also adding more housing and buildings in the village of Buscot. The highlight of the visit for me was to see the water garden designed by Harold Peto linking the big lake to the house.

There is a good selection of historicbuildings in this area but this one appealed to me because of Campbell and Henderson, as these are names in our family history. But as the venue was not open until the afternoon we spent the morning looking around Chipping Campden, another recommendation from one of the 'Talbot' regulars, and Lechlade.

Chipping Campden was once a woollen centre for the area and many of the houses and buildings have retained their medieval charm. I had not expected the place to be so popular with coach tours though but we managed to avoid the crowds by once again stepping back from the main thoroughfare. By the time we had wandered along the road on the northern outskirt of the village the tourists had almost disappeared and so we could take a closer look at the buildings and the shops. I purchased a box of HRH 'Highgrove' lemon shortcakes only to find on opening the box there were not that many biscuits!

We moved onto Lechlade, a village we have visited before. Today the buildings were displaying different flags flying from poles fastened to the upper frontage so our attention was drawn to these rather than the buildings.

We strolled over the fields beyond the Church to arrive at the upper reaches of the River Thames returning the same route to look around the churchyard.

Returning to the car we set off for Buscot Park near Faringdon.

Arriving at the house in sunshine we found the house was closed to the public and with no one on duty at the pay box we observed the instructions regarding paying the entrance fee admission fee, or if one was a member of the National Trust by signing the book provided before taking a ticket. Not being a member we posted our entrance fee into a converted large milk churn honesty box stood by the pay box. We were not too upset at not being allowed in the house as the weather was lovely, and on reading the literature found there were several routes to explore around the grounds.

We entered through an archway leading to the walled garden and then across the open spaces

to the front of the house. Walking around the outside we discovered the house had its own swimming pool protected by another archway with Italian style statues set in large niches with other buildings including a small theatre. Around the back of the house a gardener was mowing the lawn on a sit and ride mower which was not very good for Keith's hay fever. As he began sneezing we gave this area a wide berth and returned later.

I was impatient to see the 'Peto Water Garden' set on a lower level from the house between an avenue of various types of trees and hedging. Beginning in a round pond with a fountain of a sculpture of a boy and dolphin the water flowed into a rectangle pool, then into another with a small bridge linking that and the final pool with the water then pouring into the big lake. Unfortunately the sun was in the wrong angle leaving this area mostly in the shade.

Exploring the rest of the estate we followed paths mowed in the pastures. There were numerous sculptures,pots, and urns of flowers to be spotted. We came across the 'Swinging Garden' where a welcome rest was taken before moving onto the 'Citrus Bowl'. This was a gravel circle set on a lower level where several pots of citrus trees had been arranged. There was not a lot of fruit to be seen! Hidden among the reeds in a small pond was another modern sculpture of a man - not quite sure who he was representing.

A pleasant afternoon. As the tea rooms were closed we visited the village in search of afternoon tea. There was only one small place but they served some wonderful cakes so it was no wonder the locals were calling to purchase pieces to take away. Other visitors would have liked to sit out in the garden but the owner warned them of a wasps nest and advised them it was safer to stay inside. By now it was hotter than ever but the her husband soon had us cooling down as he set up a large electric fan!