I promised pictures from Stowe Gardens

[sally_maria]

On Thursday we decided to take advantage of the good weather and visit these famous gardens. (One of those places you always intend to visit, one of these days, and don't always get round to.) If you haven't come across it before, there's a pretty good Wikipedia entry. It's one of the first big English style landscape gardens, with lawns, woods and random structures to make it more visually interesting.

ETA I was also pointed by a friend to the DNB article on Viscount Cobham, the originator of the gardens.

Admiring the Pebble Arch





Early view of the house, across the lake


There were a number of guys on ride-on mowers zipping about, which could be noisy, but they looked like they were enjoying themselves, so it was hard to judge them. :-)

Across the Elysian fields, from the Temple of Ancient Virtue to the Temple of British Worthies.


View from the Grotto, onto the River Styx


View from the Temple of Friendship - from right to left, the Palladian Bridge, Lord Cobham's Monument, the Gothic Temple and the Queen's Temple.




For the completeists among you, I made an album with all the pictures I took on Flickr. :-)

Comments

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

Cleeve Hill uses to have a YHA but I don't think it does any more.

[sally_maria]

I didn't know that, but yes, apparently it did. I don't know exactly where, though.