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Buscot Park
& The Faringdon Collection |
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Oxfordshire is one of those counties where you can drive past a myriad of spectacular gateways and can only wonder at the luxury hidden at the end of the sweeping drive. Buscot Park certainly has one of those gateways and once inside, has endless immaculate delights with art and furniture worthy of the V&A and grounds worthy of Capability Brown.
Despite the fact that the house isn’t massive, every wall and every room has something of stunning beauty amongst the Faringdon collection, from the artwork to sculptures to spectacular furniture, some of which had to have rooms re-designed to accommodate them because of their importance.
The saloon for me is the golden, shining jewel in Buscot’s crown. It houses the celebrated Burne-Jones paintings that are reported to be the result of twenty years of work dating from 1871, depicting the legend of the Briar Rose, more commonly known as Sleeping Beauty. Even if these aren’t to your liking, there are Rubens, Withoos and Rembrandts to appeal to anyone’s tastes displayed in intimate surroundings.
One of the most striking aspects is that this is also very much a family home, that for the winter months is occupied by Lord and Lady Faringdon and is closed to the public. This seems to add a dimension that is missing in so many other places where fine art and furniture is displayed, including most other country houses.
Whilst the interiors are beautiful, it is the outside of Buscot Park where the real beauty lies, with a range of woodland walks, pleasure gardens, formal and walled kitchen gardens, one can not fail to be impressed by the way it changes so dramatically through the seasons. For those who want something a little different, the circular swinging gardens allow release of your inner child while various statues and urns lie throughout the grounds, one of which holds the remains of the Second Lord Faringdon.
The gardens at Buscot amazingly have only four full time gardeners, yet are the most immaculately presented grounds I can remember, with numerous avenues rolling down from the house through the Peto water garden to the lake where a staggering variety of wildfowl can be seen sharing your enjoyment of this fantastic estate.
The beautifully concealed water garden challenges nature itself, with water performing every possible manoeuvre before reaching the lake, narrow rills, miniature cascades and a humpbacked balustraded bridge at one point even thrown into the air by a bronze Dolphin and Putti fountain.
The opening hours through the season take some studying, so you would need to plan a time to visit but I assure you that there is something within for every taste. Buscot can not fail to impress, either inside or out. The art collection alone makes the £7.50 entry fee worthwhile as, in my opinion, this house has a collection to rival some of Oxfordshire’s finest added to which, you get to experience these fantastic grounds while you are there.
Reviewed by Emma Walker |
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