Today I created a new collection, Historical buildings and gardens.



Wrest Park, from Silsoe, Bedfordshire UK was designed by Thomas, Earl de Grey, an enthusiast for 18th century French architecture. The 40 hectares Formal and Great Gardens are to the south of Wrest Park House. They are laid out predominantly on a north-south axis from the house, with further axial components running east-west, incorporating vistas beyond the gardens.

Although the gardens appear to form a unified design due to these strong axial lines, much of the garden design to the north of the Horseshoe Lawns dates from the 1830's onwards, whilst those areas to the south of the Horseshoe Lawns formed the original formal woodland gardens and canals pre-dating the rebuilding of the House.


A raised terrace gives views from the garden, front of the House, across Earl de Grey’s French Gardens, with their low planted parterres and display of statuary. The formal parterres are divided from the lawns to the south by decorative railings, original to the design.


Grand Trianon from Versailles France is famous for its orderly, geometrical french-style gardens “filled with all sorts of orange blossoms and green shrubbery” (Félibien). It has always been surrounded by tens of thousands of hardy perennials and tuberoses buried in pots enabling them to be changed every day, putting on a flowering, fragrant show. The plants create a dazzling décor that brilliantly enlivens the architecture, which is entirely open to the gardens.



I noticed a few architectural similarities between the Wrest Park from Bedfordshire UK and the Grand Trianon from Versailles France.



I invite you to visit this collection and discover the beauty of French style.