PUBLIC PLACES


We are renowned for our magnif icent fl oral displays. We have around 466,000 visitors each year, so the pressure is on us to produce something really special and, hopefully, we do that


Tulips in the Aviary garden © Mike Buffi n


Head of Gardens Mike Buffi n


spoil to reshape the summit of the hill. They also had to construct the carriageways and roads around the hill to transport stone and building materials to a bare hilltop six miles from the nearest railway line.


The stone for the house, which came from Bath, and most of the bricks, which came from all parts of the country, were conveyed on a temporary steam tram from the railway direct to the foot of the hill, then the trucks were drawn up on rails by a cable engine. Other materials for the building, as well as for the farmsteads, cottages and lodges, and


the trees and the shrubs, had to be carted some miles by road.


The foundation stone was laid in 1877 and, six years later, the land had been transformed into a beautiful landscape by planting mature trees and bringing in the water supply from Aylesbury. Since then, successive members of the Rothschild family have taken turns to enhance and nurture the aesthetics and conservational value of the estate. Baron Ferdinand and his sister, known as Miss Alice, undertook extensive planting and


landscaping before James de Rothschild added a golf course and stud. More recently, the current Lord Rothschild and his daughter Beth have recreated major features, such as the Millennium Avenue of trees linking the Manor with nearby Upper Winchendon. By purchasing the adjoining land, the estate has grown from the original 2,700 acres in 1874 to 6,000 acres in 2011. It is managed by a team of foresters and farmers. Whilst the majority of the land is farmed ‘in-hand’ by the estate, fi ve tenant farmers play an important role in its tenure.


PC April/May 2021 97


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