This charming small stately home was the childhood home of Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, later to become Queen Elizabeth. A tour of the house will show visitors the beautiful 18th century hall and drawing rooms, used for concerts and weddings. You may also be interested in a fascinating collection of pictures and ceramics, as well as family memorabilia. Exquisite embroidery (around 1900) by Queen Marie of Rumania, a friend, is on display.
You can also wander round the spectacular landscape garden, covering over 50 acres, which is based on a classical formal design: long avenues of clipped beech hedges stretch out into the Hertfordshire countryside. It was laid out about 1720 when the house was built, and the original patte d'oie (goose foot) architecture has been retained.
There is also a woodland garden full of interesting plants, including rhododendrons and magnolias that have grown up over the last 80 years. Carpets of snowdrops and bluebells cover the glades. Away from the shade of the trees are banks of daffodils followed by drifts of cowslips and other wildflowers in season.
In the garden there is an interesting collection of statues. See “Charity” at the top of the drive, depicting a woman with 3 children, attributed to John Cheere (brother of Henry Cheere). This was one of the Queen Mother’s favourites and a copy stands in the garden of her old home, Royal Lodge. On either side of the lawn are the statues known as “The Wrestlers”. The left statue is a copy of Giambologna’s “Hercules and Antaeus”, the right one is a copy of Michelangelo’s “Samson and two Philistines”. The pair has recently been copied by the National Trust to display at its property at Stowe. Further into the garden you will see “Venus and Adonis” by F Scheemaker, a companion piece to a statue by L Delvaux in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
There are a number of further statues, some displayed as a focal point of a vista, others in secluded groves.
