This morning we left
Milton Keynes heading into Bedfordshire with a short list of three or four
attractions to visit; one never knows
how much of one’s time or interest is to be held by any one place. As it
happened, English Heritage’s Wrest Park kept us occupied for most of the day
or at least to the point we had little time and energy to do anything more,
apart from calling into the superstore at Kingston on the way home for diesel and
restocking the pantry and fridge.
Wrest Park is a
country estate on the edge of Silsoe, a charming village which is most likely
all part of the estate providing on-going income. The Grade I listed house, an
extremely elegantly styled mansion and the surrounding gardens, similarly
graded, make for a fabulous family day out. The half-term holiday is still
here, hence the hundreds of children about today enjoying the expansive lawns
and woods, just as we did.
The de Greys occupied the Wrest Estate for over six hundred years
and each generation left their mark. The family reached its greatest prominence
when Edward IV made Edmund Grey his Lord Treasurer in 1463 and then Earl of
Kent in 1465. More than two hundred years later the formal gardens and the
canal known as the Long Water were created by Amabel Benn, together with her
son, Anthony, the 11th Earl and his wife Mary.
The existing house was built in the 1830s, designed by its owner, Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, an amateur architect and the first president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who was inspired by buildings seen in Paris. At the time of construction, following the Napoleonic Wars, French design was not in vogue, but de Grey was not to be swayed by “fashion” and for that we can be thankful.
The grounds had been remodelled back in the second half of the 18th century when Capability Brown’s services were engaged. Fortunately for all concerned, few of his plans were realised; the owners respected the legacy of their ancestor’s efforts.
Over the years there
were money woes, and lead statues were melted down and new structures were erected
using recycled bits and pieces, but finally after the property had been passed
down through the generations, often sideways, to siblings, cousins or nephews
and the aristocratic titles watered down, the last recipient, Nan Herbert, was
responsible for setting up and running the hospital in the house during the
first years of World War I.
But in 1917 the house
was sold to a private buyer, after which it fell into decline. From 1948 it was home to the National
Institute of Agricultural Engineering, later the Silsoe Research Institute.
When the institute closed in 2006, English Heritage took over the house,
undertaking a twenty year project to restore the gardens to their pre-1917
state.
Much of the buildings
on the property are occupied by light industry and commercial enterprise,
bringing in a steady income for English Heritage. There is another income
stream from offering the property as a wedding venue; last year there were thirty
ceremonies and receptions held here, today there was yet another which is why the State rooms were closed at
11am, and the Orangerie all day. Like all similar properties opened to the
public, there is plenty going on to draw the public and I was led to believe
today that this property manages to be self-supportive plus contribute to the
running cost of others spread across the East of England. 
We arrived soon after
opening time and were warned of the partial closures, so set off at once to the
State Rooms, and were duly greatly impressed by the grandeur, even though they
are unfurnished. The weather forecast also warned of heavy rain and
thunderstorms early in the afternoon, so we then set off with audio guides on a
tour of the ninety acres of garden.
After lunch we
returned to the exhibition laid out in the open rooms in the ground floor of
the house and then meandered through the rose and other more formal gardens.
The rain was still to arrive; we had been lucky and set off back home before
our luck changed.
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