Ashdown House: A Dutch House in the English Countryside

Ashdown House was the final item on the original list of local places to visit that I made last year, but as the house itself wasn't open to visitors back then, it didn't seem worth going there yet. However, last month the property fully reopened, and we had the opportunity to visit this Wednesday!

The house is a National Trust property located in the North Wessex Downs, with an architectural style inspired by the Netherlands. For this reason, I had particularly wanted to go and see it, as I'm interested in visiting places that are reminiscent of foreign countries, especially during this period of time in which it's so hard to travel abroad. Ashdown was the second Dutch-inspired place I've been to this year - the first one being Westbury Court Garden, which we went to back in April. Although I found Westbury Court Garden a little more interesting and unique, I still enjoyed our trip to Ashdown House. It's smaller than it looks in photos, but it's a very beautiful building.

We were given a tour of the house, which was very interesting and informative, although I've probably forgotten a lot of it already! But I remember that it was built for the queen of Bohemia in the 17th century, and that sadly, it's original purpose was as a hunting lodge for people to kill deer. I'm glad that it's no longer a place for monarchy or cruelty to animals, and that now it's a place for the public to enjoy.

At the end of the tour, we got to climb up to the roof of the house! From there, we could look out across the estate and the rolling countryside beyond. Interestingly, the house is in Oxfordshire, but it is right next to the borders with Berkshire and Wiltshire, so we had views of three different counties.

I feel a slight sense of accomplishment to have now completed my "bucket list" of local destinations. Travelling to a different place (many of them new to me) every week or two has made what has mostly been a very tough time slightly easier, and has provided some much-needed escapism from the monotony of daily life as it is now. Since I started this little project of blogging about local destinations in May 2020, I've visited an Indian palace, a Japanese arboretum, and a Provençal-style lavender field, in addition to this Dutch house and the Dutch garden I mentioned earlier, as well as countless other interesting places. I've learned that, to a certain extent, it's possible to feel like you've travelled to another part of the world without actually leaving the UK, and this is a topic I plan to write more about in the near future... (Edit: I finally wrote a post about this topic, and here it is!)

Stourhead

On our way back from our minibreak in Bournemouth, my parents and I stopped off at a National Trust property we hadn't been to for a long time: Stourhead.

Stourhead is considered to have one of the most beautiful gardens in the country, so I was quite excited to explore it again and to take some pictures for this blog!

The main part of the garden is based around a large lake, but there are some other things to see on the way down to the lake from the property's entrance, including this pretty little cottage and church.

Once you get to the lake, you are greeted with amazing views of the Bristol Cross and the Palladian Bridge, with the Pantheon in the distance.

The garden was inspired by Greek and Roman mythology, and the route that visitors follow around the lake was designed to represent Aeneas's descent into the underworld.

The entire route is dotted with beautiful temples and other interesting attractions, and as you walk around, you discover a new scenic view at every turn, such as these ones of the Temple of Apollo...

...and this one of the Temple of Flora.

After I'd been walking round the lake for a while, a stone archway suddenly appeared in front of me. I passed through it, and then through another one, and I was inside the Grotto! This was one of my favourite parts of the garden, as it had statues of a god and a goddess inside, and its atmosphere was quite spooky and mysterious.

Shortly after I came out the other side of the Grotto, I found the Gothic Cottage...

...and a very short distance later, I finally arrived at the most iconic temple in the garden: the Pantheon. Inspired by the building of the same name in Rome, it is designed to be a temple to all the gods, and inside you can find statues depicting several of them. When I was inside it, I did have the sense, just for a little while, that I was on holiday somewhere in Italy!

As I made my way along the other side of the lake, back towards my starting point, there was one final sight that took me by surprise. This stunning waterfall was very peaceful both to look at and to listen to.

Once I'd finished exploring the garden, I went to take a quick look at Stourhead's house before we went home. It's a very large Palladian mansion, with a gateway that looks a lot like a castle.

The trip to Stourhead was a nice way to round off what was overall a very enjoyable minibreak. During those two days away, I visited a tropical garden full of palm trees, and swam in the sea off a beach with golden sand, in addition to exploring this garden with its temples that are reminiscent of Italy and Greece. And all this with temperatures in the high 20s! Not too bad for a British holiday...

Since we got back, I've managed to fit in one more little trip during my time off, and I'll be writing about that next...

Lodge Park and Sherborne Park Estate

This weekend, my parents and I went on an outing to the Lodge Park and Sherborne Park Estate, a National Trust property located in the Cotswolds. It's quite a big area of countryside, with its main focal point being the 17th century grandstand. The grandstand isn't a big building, but it's quite impressive to see, because of its attractive classical style of architecture. There is definitely a slight touch of Italian palazzo about it...

The little ornamental pond in front of the house makes it look even more picturesque, and interestingly, we could see lots of little tadpoles swimming around in it!

When we arrived at the building, we were given a forty-five minute tour, starting with a short film about the history of the property. Sadly, it was originally built as a place for rich people to watch a cruel "sport" involving dogs chasing, and sometimes killing, deer. But luckily, now many different types of wildlife, including deer, live happily in the surrounding area.

After the film, we were shown around various parts of the building. I think my favourite bit was when we went out on the balcony and could look out over the countryside below.

When the tour finished, we moved on to our second destination of the day: the nearby Sherborne Arms pub. The food there was really good, and I also enjoyed seeing the pretty little Japanese garden next to the car park.

Overall, it was a very nice day out to an interesting place we'd never visited before.

Next Saturday we'll be going to Chepstow in Wales, but given that I've already written about it here, I'm not sure I'll be blogging about it again. However, I'll possibly be visiting a new local destination during the week, so hopefully I'll be writing about that (or something else) in a week's time!

Westbury Court Garden: The UK's Finest Dutch Water Garden

Since the 29th March, local outdoor outings have been permitted again, and so last week my parents and I took the opportunity to visit a place that's been on my travel list of local outdoor places since March last year: Westbury Court Garden.

The garden in Gloucestershire, which is owned by the National Trust, is a very unique place that differs from most National Trust properties. What makes it different is that it's a Dutch water garden, and the only restored one in the country. It was first laid out between 1696 and 1715, when this neat and symmetrical style of garden was popular in England. However, in the late 1700s, the English Landscape style of garden became popular, and the Dutch and French style gardens were mostly destroyed and replaced with more natural-looking, informal gardens. Amazingly, Westbury Court survived and has been restored to its former glory.

It's a really beautiful place, featuring two large canals, a parterre, a walled garden, and many different varieties of plants.

Naturally, as it's a Dutch garden, there are plenty of tulips there!

One part of the property that I really liked was the Dutch-style pavilion by the entrance.

Interestingly, the garden also contains what is said to be the oldest evergreen oak in the whole of England!

The day that we were there was very cold, and my hands were frozen by the time we'd finished exploring! But overall, I really enjoyed the trip. I've actually never been to the Netherlands before - I'd like to go, but it's something I've never got round to. (It's definitely a bit unusual to have visited the likes of Chile and Uruguay and not to have visited one of the nearest countries to England!) So for me, our visit to Westbury Court Garden felt a bit like being on holiday abroad for a day!

I've still got several items left on my local travel list, a few of which could also be considered to be English alternatives to foreign destinations. Hopefully, we'll have the chance to visit another one very soon!