Wrest Park Gardens

The Italian Garden September 2011

The gardens at Wrest Park are currently [2011] being restored to their original glory by the owners, English Heritage. The gardens were originally laid out by the Duke of Kent in a very formal fashion. He was responsible for the canals, some for the statuary and for the Banqueting House, East and West Half Houses and the Bowling Green House.

The Bowling Green House September 2011

His successor was his granddaughter Jemima, Marchioness de Grey. She and her husband the Earl of Hardwicke tried to bring a more natural feel to the gardens. They built the original Chinese Summer House and the Bath House. They bought in the famous landscape gardener Lancelot "Capability" Brown (1716-1783) between 1758 and 1760 to advise on the design.

The memorial to Capability Brown September 2011

The third main stage of the gardens was the work of Thomas Philip, 2nd Earl de Grey. He knocked down the old house at Wrest and built today's mansion in the Louis XV style two hundred yards or so to the north. He built the fountain and the sundial with their groups of encircling statues on the site of the old house as well as building features such as the Orangery and the Petit Trianon dairy which stands near the mansion's stable block.

The Petit Trianon Dairy with the stableblock behind September 2011