Buscot Park

Much to Kassie’s dismay, we almost missed it! Fortunately, just a short drive from Kelmscott is perhaps one of the more beautiful gardens in the UK. The setting for the house at http://www.buscot-park.com/ allowed for an inspirational, if not slightly long, walk along an impeccable water garden, adorned with statues and stone bridges, leading to the not so (but placid and picturesque) "Big Lake".

The original buildings were begun in 1780 for Edward Loveden Townsend, a wealthy landowner. Between the mid- to late-1800s the ambitious Australian businessman Robert Tertius Campbell turned Buscot into the most highly industrialized farm in England. Then, in 1889 Buscot was sold to a highly successful city financier, Alexander Henderson, later 1st Lord Faringdon, and his descendents continue to live on the estate.

Home to the Faringdon Collection, Buscot showcases an amazing range of art, from Old Masters such as Rembrandt, Rubens and Murillo to Pre-Raphaelite pieces by Rossetti, Watts, Spartali and Ford Madox Brown. Perhaps most notable is the Briar Rose series by Burne-Jones, which—the saving grace for Kassie— depicts the story of Sleeping Beauty.

Date of Our Visit: August 2005