Burghley

Visiting Burghley - The Grounds - Walks

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Visiting Burghley

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The Water Garden
The Water Garden

When you leave the Chestnut Courtyard, turn to the left and carry on round to the North Front of the house. The roses planted in the North Court were given to the 6th Marquess and Marchioness of Exeter by Harry Wheatcroft, a famous grower, to mark their silver wedding in 1972. The species include ’Just Joey’, an apricot HT and ’Iceberg’, a favourite white floribunda. Until the 18th century there was a pond where the circular lawn is now and a single storey wing on the right, duplicating that on the left, thus giving the House an E shape, much beloved by Elizabethan builders anxious to flatter the Queen. This wing, together with the extravagant formal gardens, was swept away by ’Capability’ Brown in 1765 in order to open up this side of the house and give views over the rolling parkland landscape that he developed.

If you continue onto the grass you will come to the Ha-Ha. This is a cunning device used to restrain cattle and other stock from . entering the gardens whilst preserving the appearance of apparently flat terrain from the House. Growing amongst the limestone blockwork are flowers such as Pink Valerian and ’Snow in Summer’. An attempt to sow a wild flower bank here failed, because as each tiny shoot emerged it was eaten by the deer!

It seems likely that there were originally a number of buildings in this area of the park which formed the ancillary buildings to the Monastery of St Michael which was built in the 11th century and dissolved by Henry VIII. These buildings and the park formed part of an estate purchased by the first Lord Burghley’s father in 1526.

Proceeding along the edge of the Ha-Ha, you get a fine view of the West facade. This was originally the main approach to the House from Stamford. If you look towards the town, you will see an avenue of trees leading away from the House with the spire of St Mary’s Church acting as a focal point.

The famous ironworker Jean Tijou made the splendid golden gates in the centre of the West front in the late 17th century. The gates and their gilding were extensively restored in 1994. If you look at the large window at the top of the central block you will see that it is wider than most. This is the ’Prospect’ room, originally with windows on all four sides to enable inhabitants to keep a good lookout on who was approaching.

The large trees in the garden are very old. The lime tree (Tilia PlatyPhyllos) near the building is said to have sprung from the roots of an example planted by Queen Elizabeth I and the enormous oriental plane tree (Platanus Orientalis) is at least 200 years old. At the end of the Ha-Ha, you will come to the ’Water Gate’, our very essential access to the House for large vehicles such as fire engines which are too tall to pass under the wrought iron cresting on the North Court gates.

If you walk up the side, of the lake you may see and hear some of our resident water fowl; Barnacle and Canada Geese, Heron, Mallard and Mandarin Duck, Pochard, Grebe, Coots and of course the majestic Swans who nest around the lake and raise their cygnets in large numbers.

The lake was created by Capability Brown in 1775-80. He discovered a seam of waterproof ’blue’ Clay within a natural fault in the limestone and was able to enlarge the original 9-acre pond to the existing 26 acre lake and give everyone the impression that they were looking at a meandering river. The Lion Bridge was designed by him, costing 1000 guineas in 1778. Originally, Coade-stone lions were used as ornamentation but these perished and the existing stone examples, made by Herbert Gilbert, a local mason, have been in place since 1844.

When you arrive at the bridge gates, note the ’Dog Door’ to enable hounds to get through from either direction with speed.

There is a constant programme of tree planting in progress within the park. The planting is mainly of hardwoods of the same variety as those nearby to replace dying or over-mature trees. The avenues in the park were all laid out by Brown, paying due respect to existing plantings, some of which were from the 16th century or earlier.

If you walk away from the bridge down the tarmac road you will see the areas used for the Burghley Horse Trials in September on either side and then further avenues will become visible.

When you come to the ’triangle’ of grass at the junction of the drives you should be able to spot some of the herd of Fallow Deer if you haven’t seen them already. This is an ancient pure bred herd. First mentioned in a letter of 1562, they were originally kept as an alternative source of fresh meat. Deer from this herd were chosen as one of the first species of native deer to be exported to New Zealand in the 19th century.

The deer are born as tiny fawns in June/July and are able to stand and run almost at once; they are the traditional ’Bambi’. Females (does) can breed from the age of 18 months. They carry a fawn for’7 1/2 months. Males mature at 1 year. From the growth of their first antlers at this age, they are known as prickets. These first antlers are small and sharply pointed. Once they reach the age of 2 1/2 years, their antlers become larger and, have a broader spread. A male of this age is called a sorrel. A male deer is fully mature aged 5 years and then carries a full set of antlers. At this age a male is referred to as a buck. During the mating season or ’rut’ in October, they become extremely territorial and battle fiercely for the attentions of the does.

Do wander over and see the herd for yourself but please respect the fact that they are wild animals, afraid of people and easily panicked. If chased by dogs they can break limbs trying to escape and does will almost certainly abort their fawns if pursued whilst pregnant.

If you turn left here, after 3/4 of a mile, having passed the Burghley Park Cricket Club, you will eventually arrive in Stamford - the most beautiful small Georgian stone town in England. The town has 5 fine medieval churches containing historic tombs and monuments and examples of fine stained glass. There are excellent pubs, hotels and restaurants, shops and a museum. There is a large street market on Fridays and several antique shops and picture galleries.

lf you turn half right onto the hard-core road you will come back to the car park via ’Queen Elizabeth’s Avenue’. The tarmac road to the right will return you to Burghley House, past the twisted Sweet Chestnut Trees, some of which bear the scars of shrapnel caused by an exploding bomb which fell here during the Second World War.