Buscot Park
Encyclopedia
Buscot Park is a country house
at Buscot
near the town of Faringdon
in Oxfordshire. It was built in an austere neoclassical
style between 1780 and 1783 for Edward Loveden Townsend. It remained in the Loveden Townsend family until sold in 1859 to Robert Tertius Campbell, an Australian. On Campbell's death, in 1887, the house and its estate were sold to Alexander Henderson, a financier, later to be ennobled as Baron Faringdon
.
Following the death of the 1st Baron in 1934, the house was considerably altered and restored to its 18th-century form by the architect Geddes Hyslop
for his grandson and successor, the 2nd Lord Faringdon. During this era, the art collection founded by the 1st Baron was considerably enlarged, although many of the 1st Baron's 19th-century works of art were sold immediately following his death.
The house and estate was bequeathed to the National Trust
in 1956. The contents (which include works of art by Rembrandt and Burne-Jones
) are owned by the Faringdon Collection Trust. The house is occupied and managed by the present Lord Faringdon. The mansion and its extensive formal and informal gardens and grounds are open to the public each summer.
, but there is no documented evidence that any of these architects worked on the house; it therefore seems likely their involvement is apocryphal. It is known that James Paine supplied fireplaces and advised on the building costs, but the general design of the mansion is unsophisticated and not in character with Paine's work, making it unlikely that his involvement was major.
The house is constructed of local stone and materials with Portland stone
adornments. The roof is of Westmorland slate. Some of the building materials were bought second-hand, following demolitions and alterations to Kempsford House, Gloucestershire, and Charlton House
. Whoever the architect was, the design fails to follow the strict dictates of either the Palladian style, which was passing from fashion, or those of the neoclassical
style, which had been becoming popular in England from the late 1760s. Christopher Hussey
, writing in 1940, opined that "The architect owed much to Robert Adam and the pattern books of the admirable tradesmen of the day."
Unusually for a house of this period, the house has neither portico
nor pilaster
s to break the austerity of the facade. Contemporary drawings show that the principal and central entrance originally had a segmented pediment
, a motif of the Baroque
, long out of fashion by the 1780s. This entrance, like the principal reception rooms, was placed in the first floor, on a piano nobile
in Palladian style, leaving the ground floor free for the domestic and estate offices and service rooms. However, in neoclassical style, above the principal floor is a second floor, its windows having equal value to those below, indicating that here were principal bedrooms rather than secondary and servants' rooms, as would have been the case in a Palladian or Baroque design.
The severity of the facade, which is of nine bays, is only relieved by a band between the two major floors and the slight projection of the central three bays which are crowned by a low pediment. Following the Palldian tradition, the ground floor is rusticated
. The roofline has only a very low parapet
and no balustrade, thus leaving the hipped roof and chimneys completely visible. The high slate roof is pierced by two gable windows, more reminiscent of a farmhouse than a sophisticated mansion. The north front more truly follows the neoclassical style, in its English form, of the later 18th century. Two large bows project to flank the central three bays.
In 1859, the house and estate were sold by Loveden Loveden's great grandson, Sir Pryse Pryse. The new owner was an Australian gold trader, Robert Tertius Campbell. A keen agriculturist, Campbell extensively modernised the estate, seriously depleting his fortune in the process. During the early 1850s, Campbell considered vastly expanding the mansion, and plans were drawn up showing the house transformed to a turreted palace in a loose English renaissance style. Ultimately, Campbell decided against any grandiose schemes and contented himself by adding a porch, parapet and gabled windows to the neoclassical south front in an incongruous Neo-Renaissance
style.
It was at this time that many of the estate's woodlands were planted, along with the creation of new gardens and the carriage drive which form the nucleus of the gardens today. Campbell died in 1887, his fortune spent and the estate mortgaged. Buscot was then acquired by Alexander Henderson, later to be ennobled as the first Baron Farringdon. Henderson, an eminent London stockbroker and financier, enlarged the house with a large wing.
In the 1930s, a time when many country houses were being pulled down, converted to schools or standing empty, Buscot enjoyed a renaissance. In 1934, it was inherited by the 2nd Lord Faringdon. The new Lord Faringdon inherited Buscot from his grandfather, the 1st Lord Faringdon, and immediately embarked upon a major remodelling project. He swept away the 19th-century additions of his grandfather and Campbell, returning the facades to their original 18th-century simplicity.
To compensate for the space lost through the demolition, he commissioned the architect Geddes Hyslop to create two flanking pavilions in a loose Palladian style. These pavilions, in reality rectangular but detached wings, had temple fronts complementing the two principal facades, and gave the side elevations of the mansion added grandeur and interest. This was achieved by the addition of a triumphal arch
to an otherwise blank curtain wall. The pavilions are given unity with the mansion by high yew hedges acting as walls, which link the buildings, accentuating the Palladianism of the design.
Hyslop's work was not all restoration. Immediately adjacent to the east facade, in a court created by newly planted yew hedging linking the mansion and East Pavilion, Hyslop created a swimming pool garden. The placing of pools was a problem to the owners of country houses in the 20th century; the pools would be treated with some "circumspection" and disguised as something else. Thus, at Buscot, the pool appears as a formal canal pond set in a renaissance garden.
The interior of the mansion has been much altered and restored since its completion. The rooms are arranged in a circuit, although the principal room, the saloon, is flanked by slightly smaller rooms and adjoining cabinet
s. It is unlikely these smaller rooms were ever principal bedchambers, as would have been the case just a few years earlier in the 18th century. In fact, the layout was probably completely modern at the time; this is suggested by the siting of the dining room (3 on plan) and the drawing room (6 on plan). Geddes Hyslop's remodelling of the house in 1934 has created a series of seemingly meaningless and similar reception rooms, designed to accommodate large house parties. In some cases (including the Dutch Room) smaller rooms were amalgamated and lost. This has hidden the original uses of the rooms. During the late 18th century, rooms came to be perceived as masculine and feminine and arranged in suites accordingly. In particular the dining and drawing rooms "reigned as king and queen over the other rooms" and were often, as at Buscot, placed symmetrically in the house with a hall or saloon dividing them. The dividing room not only served to muffle the noise of boisterous men, partaking of their post-prandial port and cigars in the "masculine" dining rooms, from the more delicate ladies in the "female" drawing room, but also provided a "little state and distance" for the formal procession from the drawing room to the dining room.
Buscot's design suggests this was the case there. The masculine dining room, library, study and possibly a billiard room were placed en suite on one side of the hall, and the feminine drawing room, music room and morning room on the other. The saloon, the grandest room in the house, containing the best furnishings, was regarded as neutral territory and would have been used only for large receptions, or entertaining the most important guests.
The original use of the rooms is further confirmed by the design of the second floor, where the windows are of equal size to those below, which indicates that the principal bedrooms were always placed there. The principal staircase is comparatively small and not as grand and commanding as is often the case in a neoclassical house, where the owners retired upstairs. The great Baroque houses, built just 50 years earlier, often did not have a principal internal staircase at all, as the owners never left the piano nobile.
It is for their contents, rather than their architecture, that the rooms are notable.
The six principal rooms on the piano nobile contain the cream of an art collection collected by the three Barons Farringdon, from the 1880s to the present day. The Dutch Room (2 on the plan) contains, amongst works by Van Dyck, Jordaens and Honthorst, Rembrandt's portrait of Peter Six.
The principal room of the house, the saloon, displays Burne-Jones' The Legend of Briar Rose
. Painted over nineteen years from 1871, the series of paintings was acquired by the first Lord Farringdon in 1890. The room was then decorated to accommodate them. Burne-Jones, visiting Buscot, disliked the sequence, and painted a further four scenes to fill the voids between the original canvases.
Elsewhere in the house are works by Botticelli
, Caracci
, Cipriani
, Gainsborough
, Kauffmann
, Lawrence
, Leighton
, Lely
, Graham Sutherland
and others.
worked at Buscot. Water gardens had become popular in the late 19th century, following the introduction of exotic water-loving plants and the first illustrated gardening magazines Thus, Peto was commissioned to design a water garden. The result was an "Alhambra-like
" series of rills and fountains, linking the house to the distant 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) lake. Despite its woodland setting leading to an informal lake, the water garden is formal in its concept, in direct contrast to the still popular picturesque movement
which perhaps reached its zenith just a few years earlier at Cragside
, Northumberland. This was because Peto was influenced by the architect Reginald Blomfield
, a disciple of Sir Charles Barry
who was responsible for many of the great Italianate houses and formal terraced gardens of the 19th century. Peto also designed a large entrance court to the mansion, with massive gate piers, intended to create an impressive approach to the house.
Before the north front of the house is a formal lawned parterre with a bronze fountain depicting Mercury
. Leading from the immediate vicinity of the house are a series of woodland avenues which lead to smaller gardens; in the form of roundels these gardens include a citrus garden, a rose garden and a swinging garden. Other woodland vistas lead to various eye catching garden statues, including a monumental urn containing the relics of the 2nd Lord Faringdon.
The vast walled kitchen garden has been replanted over the last 20 years by the present Lord Faringdon, to represent the four seasons, divided into quarters by pleached hornbeams and Judas trees, each section of the garden represents a different season. A novel feature, set on a prominence above the garden is a faux waterfall, a modern sculpture which from a distance creates a convincing optical illusion of a torrential waterfall.
A stipulation in the agreement with the National Trust stated that Buscot would be leased to the Barons Faringdon, enabling them to remain in residence. This arrangement has continued to the present day. The present and 3rd Lord Faringdon, with his wife, not only lives in the house, but is responsible for the day to day management and decoration of the mansion. Although Lord and Lady Faringdon have built a smaller house, the Garden House, in the grounds for their personal use during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak, the interior of the house has very much the uncontrived air of a private residence rather than that of a public art gallery
The present Lord Faringdon has added many works of art to the collection, including contemporary paintings, ceramics, glass and silver. The house, gardens and grounds are open each year from April to September.
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
at Buscot
Buscot
Buscot is a village and civil parish on the River Thames about southeast of Lechlade. Buscot was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire....
near the town of Faringdon
Faringdon
Faringdon is a market town in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. It is on the edge of the Thames Valley, between the River Thames and the Ridgeway...
in Oxfordshire. It was built in an austere neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
style between 1780 and 1783 for Edward Loveden Townsend. It remained in the Loveden Townsend family until sold in 1859 to Robert Tertius Campbell, an Australian. On Campbell's death, in 1887, the house and its estate were sold to Alexander Henderson, a financier, later to be ennobled as Baron Faringdon
Alexander Henderson, 1st Baron Faringdon
Alexander Henderson, 1st Baron Faringdon, CH , known as Sír Alexander Henderson, 1st Baronet, from 1902 to 1916, was a British financier and Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament.- Biography :...
.
Following the death of the 1st Baron in 1934, the house was considerably altered and restored to its 18th-century form by the architect Geddes Hyslop
Geddes Hyslop
P[aul] Geddes Hyslop was a 20th century British architect, trained at the British School in Rome. Linked with the Bloomsbury set, his work, mostly in the classical style, was fashionable amongst the British upper classes and intelligentsia in the years immediately surrounding World War II...
for his grandson and successor, the 2nd Lord Faringdon. During this era, the art collection founded by the 1st Baron was considerably enlarged, although many of the 1st Baron's 19th-century works of art were sold immediately following his death.
The house and estate was bequeathed to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in 1956. The contents (which include works of art by Rembrandt and Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
) are owned by the Faringdon Collection Trust. The house is occupied and managed by the present Lord Faringdon. The mansion and its extensive formal and informal gardens and grounds are open to the public each summer.
Architecture
The construction of Buscot Park was begun in 1780, for Edward Loveden Loveden, whose family had owned land adjacent to the site since 1557. The land upon which he chose to build the house itself was owned by the neighbouring Throckmorton estate. Loveden Loveden did not acquire ownership of the land upon which his house was built until 1788. The architect is unknown, and it is likely that Loveden himself had a hand in the design. Loveden is known to have employed James Darley at this time; a little known architect, described by a contemporary as "able and experienced." The names of other far more eminent architects have been mentioned in connection with Buscot, including that of Robert AdamRobert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
, but there is no documented evidence that any of these architects worked on the house; it therefore seems likely their involvement is apocryphal. It is known that James Paine supplied fireplaces and advised on the building costs, but the general design of the mansion is unsophisticated and not in character with Paine's work, making it unlikely that his involvement was major.
The house is constructed of local stone and materials with Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
adornments. The roof is of Westmorland slate. Some of the building materials were bought second-hand, following demolitions and alterations to Kempsford House, Gloucestershire, and Charlton House
Charlton House
Among several English houses with the name Charlton House, the most prominent is a Jacobean building in Charlton, London. It is regarded as the best-preserved ambitious Jacobean house in Greater London. It was built in 1607-12 of red brick with stone dressing, and has an "E"-plan layout...
. Whoever the architect was, the design fails to follow the strict dictates of either the Palladian style, which was passing from fashion, or those of the neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
style, which had been becoming popular in England from the late 1760s. Christopher Hussey
Christopher Hussey
Christopher Edward Clive Hussey was one of the chief authorities on British domestic architecture of the generation that also included Dorothy Stroud and Sir John Summerson.- Career :...
, writing in 1940, opined that "The architect owed much to Robert Adam and the pattern books of the admirable tradesmen of the day."
Unusually for a house of this period, the house has neither portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
nor pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s to break the austerity of the facade. Contemporary drawings show that the principal and central entrance originally had a segmented pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
, a motif of the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
, long out of fashion by the 1780s. This entrance, like the principal reception rooms, was placed in the first floor, on a piano nobile
Piano nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
in Palladian style, leaving the ground floor free for the domestic and estate offices and service rooms. However, in neoclassical style, above the principal floor is a second floor, its windows having equal value to those below, indicating that here were principal bedrooms rather than secondary and servants' rooms, as would have been the case in a Palladian or Baroque design.
The severity of the facade, which is of nine bays, is only relieved by a band between the two major floors and the slight projection of the central three bays which are crowned by a low pediment. Following the Palldian tradition, the ground floor is rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
. The roofline has only a very low parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
and no balustrade, thus leaving the hipped roof and chimneys completely visible. The high slate roof is pierced by two gable windows, more reminiscent of a farmhouse than a sophisticated mansion. The north front more truly follows the neoclassical style, in its English form, of the later 18th century. Two large bows project to flank the central three bays.
In 1859, the house and estate were sold by Loveden Loveden's great grandson, Sir Pryse Pryse. The new owner was an Australian gold trader, Robert Tertius Campbell. A keen agriculturist, Campbell extensively modernised the estate, seriously depleting his fortune in the process. During the early 1850s, Campbell considered vastly expanding the mansion, and plans were drawn up showing the house transformed to a turreted palace in a loose English renaissance style. Ultimately, Campbell decided against any grandiose schemes and contented himself by adding a porch, parapet and gabled windows to the neoclassical south front in an incongruous Neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
style.
It was at this time that many of the estate's woodlands were planted, along with the creation of new gardens and the carriage drive which form the nucleus of the gardens today. Campbell died in 1887, his fortune spent and the estate mortgaged. Buscot was then acquired by Alexander Henderson, later to be ennobled as the first Baron Farringdon. Henderson, an eminent London stockbroker and financier, enlarged the house with a large wing.
In the 1930s, a time when many country houses were being pulled down, converted to schools or standing empty, Buscot enjoyed a renaissance. In 1934, it was inherited by the 2nd Lord Faringdon. The new Lord Faringdon inherited Buscot from his grandfather, the 1st Lord Faringdon, and immediately embarked upon a major remodelling project. He swept away the 19th-century additions of his grandfather and Campbell, returning the facades to their original 18th-century simplicity.
To compensate for the space lost through the demolition, he commissioned the architect Geddes Hyslop to create two flanking pavilions in a loose Palladian style. These pavilions, in reality rectangular but detached wings, had temple fronts complementing the two principal facades, and gave the side elevations of the mansion added grandeur and interest. This was achieved by the addition of a triumphal arch
Triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...
to an otherwise blank curtain wall. The pavilions are given unity with the mansion by high yew hedges acting as walls, which link the buildings, accentuating the Palladianism of the design.
Hyslop's work was not all restoration. Immediately adjacent to the east facade, in a court created by newly planted yew hedging linking the mansion and East Pavilion, Hyslop created a swimming pool garden. The placing of pools was a problem to the owners of country houses in the 20th century; the pools would be treated with some "circumspection" and disguised as something else. Thus, at Buscot, the pool appears as a formal canal pond set in a renaissance garden.
Interior
Cabinet (room)
A cabinet was one of a number of terms for a private room in the domestic architecture and that of palaces of early modern Europe, a room serving as a study or retreat, usually for a man. The cabinet would be furnished with books and works of art, and sited adjacent to his bedchamber, the...
s. It is unlikely these smaller rooms were ever principal bedchambers, as would have been the case just a few years earlier in the 18th century. In fact, the layout was probably completely modern at the time; this is suggested by the siting of the dining room (3 on plan) and the drawing room (6 on plan). Geddes Hyslop's remodelling of the house in 1934 has created a series of seemingly meaningless and similar reception rooms, designed to accommodate large house parties. In some cases (including the Dutch Room) smaller rooms were amalgamated and lost. This has hidden the original uses of the rooms. During the late 18th century, rooms came to be perceived as masculine and feminine and arranged in suites accordingly. In particular the dining and drawing rooms "reigned as king and queen over the other rooms" and were often, as at Buscot, placed symmetrically in the house with a hall or saloon dividing them. The dividing room not only served to muffle the noise of boisterous men, partaking of their post-prandial port and cigars in the "masculine" dining rooms, from the more delicate ladies in the "female" drawing room, but also provided a "little state and distance" for the formal procession from the drawing room to the dining room.
Buscot's design suggests this was the case there. The masculine dining room, library, study and possibly a billiard room were placed en suite on one side of the hall, and the feminine drawing room, music room and morning room on the other. The saloon, the grandest room in the house, containing the best furnishings, was regarded as neutral territory and would have been used only for large receptions, or entertaining the most important guests.
It is for their contents, rather than their architecture, that the rooms are notable.
The six principal rooms on the piano nobile contain the cream of an art collection collected by the three Barons Farringdon, from the 1880s to the present day. The Dutch Room (2 on the plan) contains, amongst works by Van Dyck, Jordaens and Honthorst, Rembrandt's portrait of Peter Six.
The principal room of the house, the saloon, displays Burne-Jones' The Legend of Briar Rose
The Legend of Briar Rose
The Legend of Briar Rose is the title of a series of paintings by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones which were completed between 1885 and 1890...
. Painted over nineteen years from 1871, the series of paintings was acquired by the first Lord Farringdon in 1890. The room was then decorated to accommodate them. Burne-Jones, visiting Buscot, disliked the sequence, and painted a further four scenes to fill the voids between the original canvases.
Elsewhere in the house are works by Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance...
, Caracci
Agostino Carracci
Agostino Carracci was an Italian painter and printmaker. He was the brother of the more famous Annibale and cousin of Lodovico Carracci....
, Cipriani
Giovanni Battista Cipriani
Giovanni Battista Cipriani , Italian painter and engraver, Pistoiese by descent, was born in Florence.-History:His first lessons were given him by a Florentine of English descent, Ignatius Hugford, and then under Anton Domenico Gabbiani...
, Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, Kauffmann
Angelica Kauffmann
Maria Anna Angelika/Angelica Katharina Kauffman was a Swiss-Austrian Neoclassical painter. Kauffman is the preferred spelling of her name; it is the form she herself used most in signing her correspondence, documents and paintings.- Early years :She was born at Chur in Graubünden, Switzerland,...
, Lawrence
Thomas Lawrence (painter)
Sir Thomas Lawrence RA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.Lawrence was a child prodigy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper. At the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his...
, Leighton
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA , known as Sir Frederic Leighton, Bt, between 1886 and 1896, was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical and classical subject matter...
, Lely
Peter Lely
Sir Peter Lely was a painter of Dutch origin, whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.-Life:...
, Graham Sutherland
Graham Sutherland
Graham Vivien Sutherland OM was an English artist.-Early life:He was born in Streatham, attending Homefield Preparatory School, Sutton. He was then educated at Epsom College, Surrey before going up to Goldsmiths, University of London...
and others.
Grounds
The house is set within a large park, of over 100 acre (0.404686 km²), containing woodland, lakes and formal gardens. Creation of the park began in 1782. In the early 20th century, the landscape architect Harold PetoHarold Peto
Harold Ainsworth Peto was a British landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France.-Biography:...
worked at Buscot. Water gardens had become popular in the late 19th century, following the introduction of exotic water-loving plants and the first illustrated gardening magazines Thus, Peto was commissioned to design a water garden. The result was an "Alhambra-like
Alhambra
The Alhambra , the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra , is a palace and fortress complex located in the Granada, Andalusia, Spain...
" series of rills and fountains, linking the house to the distant 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) lake. Despite its woodland setting leading to an informal lake, the water garden is formal in its concept, in direct contrast to the still popular picturesque movement
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
which perhaps reached its zenith just a few years earlier at Cragside
Cragside
Cragside is a country house in the civil parish of Cartington in Northumberland, England. It was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power...
, Northumberland. This was because Peto was influenced by the architect Reginald Blomfield
Reginald Blomfield
Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period.- Early life and career :...
, a disciple of Sir Charles Barry
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry FRS was an English architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens.- Background and training :Born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster...
who was responsible for many of the great Italianate houses and formal terraced gardens of the 19th century. Peto also designed a large entrance court to the mansion, with massive gate piers, intended to create an impressive approach to the house.
Before the north front of the house is a formal lawned parterre with a bronze fountain depicting Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
. Leading from the immediate vicinity of the house are a series of woodland avenues which lead to smaller gardens; in the form of roundels these gardens include a citrus garden, a rose garden and a swinging garden. Other woodland vistas lead to various eye catching garden statues, including a monumental urn containing the relics of the 2nd Lord Faringdon.
The vast walled kitchen garden has been replanted over the last 20 years by the present Lord Faringdon, to represent the four seasons, divided into quarters by pleached hornbeams and Judas trees, each section of the garden represents a different season. A novel feature, set on a prominence above the garden is a faux waterfall, a modern sculpture which from a distance creates a convincing optical illusion of a torrential waterfall.
Private house and public gallery
During the 1940s, the 2nd Lord Faringdon formulated a plan in conjunction with Ernest Cook to present the house and its estate to the nation, under the auspices of the National Trust. A decade later, the preservation of Buscot's contents was ensured by the creation of a family trust which acquired ownership of the Henderson family's works of art and furniture which became known as the Faringdon Collection. This collection is displayed at Buscot and the family's town house in London's Brompton Square.A stipulation in the agreement with the National Trust stated that Buscot would be leased to the Barons Faringdon, enabling them to remain in residence. This arrangement has continued to the present day. The present and 3rd Lord Faringdon, with his wife, not only lives in the house, but is responsible for the day to day management and decoration of the mansion. Although Lord and Lady Faringdon have built a smaller house, the Garden House, in the grounds for their personal use during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak, the interior of the house has very much the uncontrived air of a private residence rather than that of a public art gallery
The present Lord Faringdon has added many works of art to the collection, including contemporary paintings, ceramics, glass and silver. The house, gardens and grounds are open each year from April to September.