This is Wotton House, built for Richard Grenville between 1704 and 1714. The wrought-iron screen and gates catch the eye as do the pavilions on the north and south sides of the house. The north pavilion, the Clock Pavilion, used to house the kitchen which must have ensured cold food by the time it got to the dining room.
The South Pavilion, visible on the left of my picture, contained the coach house. John Gielgud lived here and seemed to enjoy himself. I hope Tony and Cherie Blair get as much pleasure from their architecturally special home.
The original architect in the early 18th century is unknown but three others intervened over the last three hundred years. In 1821, after a fire, John Soane, reconstructed the interior to some advantage. In 1929 the then owner, Michael Beaumont MP, employed an architect called Butler to wreck Soane’s improvements. I knew his (Beaumont’s) widow, his son, Tim, a Liberal Life Peer and grandson but until I started writing this piece I had no notion that the Beaumonts had a Wotton connection.
The 1960s wasn’t the finest decade for architecture in Britain but Donald Insall did a good job for his client, Mrs Brunner – whose family investment trust has featured here and here. He tried to get the interior back to Soane settings and made “a boldly regular row of rectangular chimney stacks” (Pevsner) that reflect Soane’s intentions but were built in 1961.
Last time I came to Wotton I only saw the interior, this time Bertie and I appreciated Capability Brown’s landscaping, started before he got his hands on Stowe. The similarities are unmistakeable: lakes, a canal, statues, temples, avenues, vistas. It is not so jaw-dropping, bank-breakingly extravagant as Stowe but it is a magnificent 1 1/2 hour walk with a new view at almost every step. You are unlikely to get lost but just in case I had a descendant of the last Duke of Buckingham as my guide.
So where’s Wotton?
