Bulstrode house and ground, a side view
Some friends were visiting from New Mexico yesterday and despite the heat wave we're having, they thought the weather was fine. I took them to Bulstrode, a spot nearby I've only recently discovered. While the flowers that were so abundant in April were no longer blooming, the walk around the grounds is still impressive.
Bulstrode is owned now by WEC International, a Christian organization that sponsors missionaries all over the world. It's a peaceful place, and I can see why people would want to work there.
The lily pond
Bulstrode was once the home of the Duke of Portland and his famous Portland Vase. It was bought in 1810 by Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset (the same family of Jane Seymour and Edward Seymour, the Lord Protector of England during the reign of Edward VI). This explains the "S" on the tower here:
Seymour left his mark on the tower.
The building was rebuilt in 1865 in the Victorian style. The grounds have been cultivated even longer, since the time of the Norman Conquest, when the property included all the area in the nearby town of Gerrards Cross. Most of the present gardens were the work of a descendent of the 12th Duke of Somerset, Sir John Ramsden, an authority on rhododendrons. The house was used during WWII as a training base for the RAF.
In 1966, the WEC bought the house, full of dry rot and deathwatch beetle, for £70,000. From the looks of it now, it was a bargain.
The front entrance to Bulstrode.
Along the garden walk.
And this was the view in April, along the garden walk.
