If I was thirty years younger and at least thirty times richer this is where I would live.
Gunnersbury Park covers about 185 acres, so plenty of walks for Bertie, and It is only a ten minute walk from Acton Town and South Ealing tube stations. The Small Mansion was built circa 1805 and was lived in by two families (Major Morison and the Farmers) until it was sold to the Rothschilds in 1889 as accommodation for their guests. The Large Mansion had been bought by Nathan Mayer Rothschild in 1835.
Pevsner approves. He notes the curved porch on the North front has half-fluted Doric columns and the South front has two full-height bow windows flanking a four-bay centre with a delightfully exotic oriental verandah decorated with bells. It is currently empty and crying out to be let on a long, repairing lease to an architecturally sensitive tenant.
Perhaps I could re-purpose the Bath House, situated close to the Small Mansion on the east, as overflow accommodation for my guests.
The ornamental pond to the west of the Large Mansion was created in the 18th century when Princess Amelia, George III’s aunt, was living in the original Palladian villa demolished in 1800. It was used for boating and other entertainments such as fireworks. The Rothschilds kept flamingos here and it is still used for boating today. Pedalos remind me of seaside holidays in France when I was a child.
The temple overlooking the pond also dates back to the 1760s when Princess Amelia was in residence. There is the site of a Model Farm, a Gothic Tower and Potomac Lake created from where clay had been excavated for a pottery created by the Rothschilds.
Potomac Lake is stocked by the Barnes & Mortlake Angling & Preservation Society with a variety of species: Carp, Common Carp, Eel, Mirror Carp, Perch, Pike, Roach, Rudd and Catfish. The Mirror Carp can weigh up to 31 lbs. The surrounds are overgrown and much of the surface of the water covered with algae.
