Given that it has been so long since we did anything with a tourism bent (yes, as if!) we felt it was time to get back on the horse and chose Cliveden as our coming out destination. Our choice of destination was very much swayed by the fact that the sun was shining and, as 10 months in the Uk have taught us, you don’t want to waste such opportunities.
Cliveden is a spectacular country estate overlooking the River Thames and was once the glittering hub of society as the home of Waldorf and Nancy Astor. Later in the 20th century, it was infamously associated with the Profumo Affair.
[For those of you not up with the politics of the 1960s (and I freely admit I had to google to get the whole story myself), the Profumo affair relates to the scandal of John Profumo, Secretary of State for War in 1963. His affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Russian spy, followed by lying in the House of Commons when questioned about it, forced his resignation and damaged the reputation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s government. Macmillan himself resigned a few months later due to ill health.]
While the house itself is now let as a hotel, we were free to wander the gardens and surrounding woodlands. The Grade 1 listed gardens were scattered with works of art and many Roman antiquities and were plenty big enough for the kids to run free.
The Fountain of Love
Probably the most formal of areas was the Long Garden which consisted of topiary in the form of corkscrew-spirals, peacocks and box hedges. I am a big fan of topiary and the peacocks in particular where pretty special. I hate to say it (though we all thought it at the time, even the kids) but Villandry has certainly put a damper on gardens such as this. Whilst it was lovely to walk the length of the garden, enclosed by a giant hedge, it lacked a certain 'je ne sais quoi!'.
One big, green bird
Zac with the harlequin statue in the Long Garden
Whilst rambling through the woods we spied a statue half hidden by bushes and jokingly told Zac to check it out in case it was 'old Joan' again. Much to Zac's amusement there she was - and we thought we had left her on the continent!
Zac thinks she may be following him around!
Views out over the valley. Hard to believe we were so close to London.
and the Thames snaked its way below us
The Tortoise Fountain was a bit of a let down for Zac and Abbey who were hoping for a giant tortoise spouting water. The fact that four relatively small stone tortoise adorned the somewhat stagnant fountain just failed to impress.
Coming upon the house from the south we could fully appreciate how grand the residence must once have been. There have been three houses on this site: the first, built in 1666 burned down in 1795, the second house (1824) was also destroyed by fire in 1849. The present house was built in 1851 for George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland (probably needed so many rooms to fit his name in!) It is now a 5 star hotel and it was easy to see what the guests were paying for.
Abbey takes it all in her stride
Yep, they look right at home
I appreciated the little things - yes, big fan of the gothic!
The Parterre garden was lovely but it is really the sweeping views that make this garden something special.
Hmm, not so sure about this sculpture?
One of the towers surrounding the Orangery (now a restaurant) was once a dovecote
Gilded clock tower
From the formal Parterre we entered the Water Garden complete with temple, water lilies and stone bridges. We did not spend too long investigating as the kids had seen a sign to a children's play area which was a red flag to a bull.
Stepping over to the temple
and then off in search of the park
The children's play area turned out to be a small sculpture garden filled with wood carved creatures. There was a giant cockroach and centipede carved from massive tree trunks. An enormous Captain Hook looked over an equally large crocodile and were watched by a wooden Peter Pan. Each chair had rabbits carved into the arm rest and wooden owls adorned posts scattered throughout. There were also tee pees constructed of branches which the kids could crawl through. Whilst not the playground they had been expecting, the garden captured their imaginations and they had a fantastic time before it was time to hit the road and go home
The wizard stood in welcome at the garden gates
Getting cosy in the cone
All told it was a successful Robb relaunch onto the tourism trail.
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