April afternoon at Buscot Park, Oxfordshire

Buscot Park is a late 18th-century Palladian mansion in Oxfordshire and it is home to Lord Faringdon and his family who administer it on behalf of the National Trust. The family collection of art and antiques; The Faringdon Collection, is displayed in the house and the grounds are home to the Harold Peto Italianate Water Garden and the Four Seasons Garden.

I spent an April afternoon at Buscot Park and Gardens exploring it for the first time and it was only when I returned a couple of weeks later that I realised I had only seen a fraction of the grounds! Therefore this post forms the first part of a two-part blog on my two visits.

The Stables and Clock Tower

The first part of the afternoon was warm and cloudy but later on it became sunny with bue skies and fluffy white clouds. The cloudier conditions were better suited to capturing the early Spring colour and foliage of the beautiful walled Four Seasons Garden.

Japanese Flowering Cherry Tree

To explore the Four Seasons Garden you enter under the Clock Tower through the Stable Block which once housed the stables. Part of the stable block has been converted to house the tea-room. The Four Seasons Garden's lovely red-brick walls used to house the original kitchen garden and are now planted with box hedges, spring bulbs, lillies and roses, flowering trees, ornamental shrubs and trees. The planting is designed to add colour to each particular season and in the Spring the tones are predominantly green, orange, red and white.

image of the entrance into a walled garden with a clock tower

looking into the Four Seasons walled garden through a gated entrance

Wisteria Arch in the Four Seasons garden

looking at the clock tower and stable building from the Four Seasons walled garden

a stone clock tower with orange and green foliage surrounding it

two stone pillars at the entrance to a walled garden

looking at the stable entrance from the walled garden

orange maple leaves

a maple tree in front of a red brick wall and clock tower

Stable Block and Four Seasons Walled Garden

In the first part of the Four Seasons Garden the warm red brick of the walls contrasts nicely with the new spring green leaves and foliage. The borders are full of white, pink deep red and purple spring flowering bulbs like daffodil, narcissus and tulips and also shrubs and trees in contrasting deep reds and greens.

a red brick wall and red and green plants and foliage in a garden

a wrought iron gate open in a red brick wall

a black marble statue of a man in a garden

a red brick wall and red and green plants and foliage in a garden

a red brick wall and red and green plants and foliage in a garden

a red brick wall and red and green plants and foliage in a garden

an arched doorway in a red brick wall

red, green and white foliage and flowers in a garden

a statue of a seated woman against a red brick wall

Four Seasons Walled Garden

There are lovely statues representing the four seasons and wrought iron gates in doorways that lead out of the inner walled garden to the higher stepped and terraced parts of the garden. In the centre of the Four Seasons Garden is an ornamental lilly pond with a central statue acting as a fountain. The pond is full of Koi Carp in varying colours and sizes. It is very relaxing wandering around in the walled garden and it is nice to sit on the seats by the pond and listen to the birdsong and the sound of running water from the fountain.

a wisteria arch and tunnel with a view of a statue at the end

white tulip flowers with pink striped

red maple leaves against a green background

scarlet red tulips in a garden border below a red brick wall

a stone railing around a pond with a central statue

white tulip flowers with pink stripes

red maple leaves against a green background

looking down a path lined by tall green hedges towards a gazebo

Four Seasons Garden

Tulip Display in the Four Seasons Garden

Once you walk through one of the gates you can go further up the steeper, stepped and terraced parts of the Four Seasons Garden and through a wild orchard on to the replicas of the Terracotta Army and eventually the House itself.

The replicas of the Terracotta Army were added by the Peto family who were responsible for the garden's design for the first Lord Faringdon and make for a unique and quirky surprise feature in the garden.

After viewing the Terracotta Army you can follow the path that leads to the House and the rest of the grounds.

Terracotta Army

Buscot Park House facade

Buscot Park Summer House

Buscot Park House

Buscot Park House wrought iron window surrounded with green leaves

Buscot Park House

The house was built between 1780 and 1783 for a local landowner, Edward Loveden Townsend. The estate was purchased in 1889 by Alexander Henderson who was created the 1st Lord Faringdon in 1916. He was responsible for enlarging the house and also commissioned Harold Peto to design the famous water garden.

The house is an example of the late 18th-century taste for Italiante country houses which were inspired by the architecture of the Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio.

The Buscot Park estate was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1956 and the contents of the house transferred to the Trustees of the Faringdon Collection. The present Lord Faringdon leases the estate and lives at Buscot Park and oversees the day-to-day running of the house and grounds.

green deciduous and conifer trees in parkland with a blue sky with white clouds

stone pillar and wall surrounded with green trees and grass

deciduous and conifer trees in parkland

looking through stone pillars and at a lane in parkland

a wooden bench among trees in parkland

looking through stone pillars and at a lane in parkland

Buscot Park Grounds

Unfortunately I ran out of time to visit the rest of the gardens and the house wasn't open on the day I visited but I did return to the estate two weeks later to explore further into the Peto Water Garden and Pleasure Gardens and these will be featured in the second part of my Blog.

The estate is an absolute delight and even the small part that I saw was beautiful and full of beautiful flowers, plants, shrubs and trees. Walking around the gardens and the parkland was so relaxing and it is so big that you can easily find space to be alone. There is so much to photograph and see so if you visit be prepared for a lot of walking and for a very full camera roll/memory card and drained camera batteries!

Buscot Park House