West Wycombe Park - The Gardens and The Park

The Gardens and The Park

The gardens at West Wycombe Park are among the finest and most idiosyncratic 18th century gardens surviving in England. The park is unique in its consistent use of Classical architecture from both Greece and Italy. The two principal architects of the gardens at West Wycombe were John Donowell and Nicholas Revett. They designed all of the ornamental buildings in the park. The landscape architect Thomas Cook began to execute the plans for the park, with a nine-acre man-made lake created from the nearby River Wye in the form of a swan. The lake originally had a Spanish galleon for the amusement of Dashwood's guests, complete with a resident captain on board. Water leaves the lake down a cascade and into a canal pond.

One of the most important landmarks in the late Georgian period was the introduction of many new species of trees and flora from around the world, which Horace Walpole described as giving the "richness and colouring so peculiar to the modern landscape". The new species also allowed changes of mood through changes of planting, so an area could be dark and melancholic, or light and ebullient, or mysterious; thus, contemporary gardens such as West Wycombe and Stourhead, both arranged as a walk around a lake, took the visitor through a range of locations, each with its own specific character and quite separate from the last. Humphry Repton later extended the 5,000 acres (20 km²) of grounds to the east, towards the nearby town of High Wycombe, until they appeared much as they do today.

The park still contains many follies and temples. The "Temple of Music" is on an island in the lake, inspired by the Temple of Vesta in Rome. It was designed for Dashwood's fêtes champêtres, with the temple used as a theatre; the remains of the stage survive. Opposite the temple is the garden's main cascade which has statues of two water nymphs. The present cascade has been remade, as the original was demolished in the 1830s. An octagonal tower known as the "Temple of the Winds" is based in design on the Tower of the Winds in Athens.

Classical architecture continues along the path around the lake, with the "Temple of Flora", a hidden summerhouse, and the "Temple of Daphne", both reminiscent of a small temple on the Acropolis. Another hidden temple, the "Round Temple", has a curved loggia. Nearer the house, screening the service wing from view, is a Roman triumphal arch, the "Temple of Apollo", also known (because of its former use a venue for cock fighting) as 'Cockpit Arch', which holds a copy of the famed Apollo Belvedere. Close by is the "Temple of Diana", with a small niche containing a statue of the goddess. Another goddess is celebrated in the "Temple of Venus". Below this is an Exedra, a grotto (known as Venus's Parlour) and a statue of Mercury. This once held a copy of the Venus de' Medici; it was demolished in the 1820s but has recently been reconstructed and now holds a replica of the Venus de Milo.

Later structures that break the classical theme include the Gothic style boathouse, a Gothic Alcove — now a romantic ruin hidden amongst undergrowth — and a Gothic Chapel, once home of the village cobbler but later used as the estate kennels. A monument dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II was erected on her 60th birthday in 1986.