We’d been to Stowe Gardens before but as there were so many paths around the estate, and so much to see, we thought we’d pop back for a little walk while we had a few hours to kill.
The gardens (known as Stowe Gardens, formerly Stowe Landscape Gardens) are a significant example of the English landscape garden and, along with the parkland, passed into the ownership of the National Trust in 1989.
Described by historian Christopher Hussey as the “outstanding monument to English landscape gardening”, the gardens and parkland of Stowe are Grade I listed. The gardens were developed by several generations of the Temple and Grenville families. From the 1710s to the 1740s, leading garden designers were employed by Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, these included Charles Bridgeman, James Gibbs, William Kent and Capability Brown, as well as architect Sir John Vanbrugh. After Viscount Cobham’s death, his nephew Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, inherited and he began a programme of naturalisation in the parkland, altering the formation of lakes and woodland, as well as moving monuments to new locations.
We took a different route round the gardens, this time walking anti-clockwise round them, taking some different paths we’d missed last time. It wasn’t supposed to rain but as ever, the great British weather had other ideas and we had to dash under some trees to get out of the worst of the sudden downpour, before heading back to the Café for some lunch.
Photos
Route
If you’re interested you can download the GPX file of the plotted route. Please be aware though that the route was hand-plotted and so may not be 100% accurate.
Walk Statistics
| Miles | Breaks (HH:MM) | Walking (HH:MM) | Pace (MPH) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.72 | 00:17 | 01:14 | 2.40 |
Route Map
Elevation Details
| Start Elavation (m) | End Elavation (m) | Max Elevation (m) | Min Elevation (m) | Total Climb (m) | Total Descent (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | 124 | 141 | 109 | 70 | -72 |