Cliveden

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Over the last couple of days we have discussed with Marilyn and Jim where we might go on our last day in England. With the weather so lovely it was a toss-up between the Royal Horticultural Society Garden, Wisley, at Woking and National Trust Property, Cliveden, at Taplow. In the end it was decided that we should head to Cliveden as it would involve less travelling time.

So, when Jim returned from his appointment with the dentist, we headed off along the M40 turning off at Wooburn Green towards Maidenhead and Taplow. Cliveden has extensive gardens overlooking the River Thames. In the early part of the 20th century it was the home of Waldorf and Nancy Astor who hosted lavish parties for London’s rich and famous. In the early 60s it was rather infamously associated with the ‘Profumo Affair’ that caused a scandal for the Conservative government of the day.

After parking the car we left Marilyn and Jim having a cup of coffee at the kiosk while we walked along to the Fountain of Love. After photographing the shell fountain we walked down the driveway towards the house. The NT actually lets the house as a private hotel so only a small part of the house is open to visitors and then only on Thursdays and Sundays. We walked past the Orangery which now operates as a restaurant and Bernie checked out the high end motor vehicles parked out the front of the house!

We walked around the side of the house via the Dukes Lawn and then strolled through the Parterre before discovering the Tortoise Fountain. From the fountain we walked the rest of the way down to the river. The river bank is heavily planted so after a glimpse of the River Thames we climbed back up the 172 steps of the Yew Tree Walk to the Chapel. From the Chapel we headed back to the Orangery to have some lunch.

The grounds were almost deserted as we made our way around the gardens. The staff in the restaurant told us that it was because it was too hot!! We noticed that the heat was not only taking a toll on the number of visitors, but on the gardens too, with the lawn areas unexpectedly dry and browned off. A sight that we are well used to seeing in Australia, but rather a rarity in England!!

After eating we strolled through the Secret Garden, a garden that the Astors kept exclusively for their own use, and the Long Garden which is filled with topiary and Roman statues collected in Europe. We finished off our visit wandering past the Maze Project to the Water Garden. They were hard at work preparing the ground to re-plant the Yew tree maze later this year. The lawns around the Water Garden are set aside for picnicking and we imagine that the weekend will see the area packed with picnickers!! Today, however, we had the area almost to ourselves.

Jim took us on the scenic route back to Pinner. We drove through Wooburn and Cookham and then on to Eton Wick along the minor roads. As we approached Eton there was an impressive view of Windsor Castle with the railway viaduct in the foreground. I was rather astonished that we did not stop to take a photo. Bernie told me later that he couldn’t be bothered finding somewhere to park the car??!! I guess we had also reached the point where we were a bit tired of being tourists and starting to focus on returning home? We drove through Eton and onto Datchet before driving through the outskirts of Slough on the A412 to Uxbride and then back to Pinner.

With the weather continuing warm into the evening we walked down into Pinner Village for a meal at the Café Rouge with Marilyn and Jim. After dinner we repacked our bags for the journey home.

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