Audley End - Grounds

Having joined English Heritage when we visited Stonehenge in October, Helen and I decided to visit our local EH site having secured a booking; the weather did not go to plan though, as it was freezing all the time we were there.

Audley End was the site of Walden Abbey, it developed over several rebuilds into one of the finest Jacobean country houses in England; now one-third of its original size, but still very large, there is much to see here - both internally and externally.

Much of the the Gardens and Grounds were laid out by the landscape gardener Lancelot "Capability" Brown and they are divided by the River Cam (or Granta) which can be crossed here by several bridges. Behind the house is the parterre garden, an ornamental garden with paths between the beds; we explore this and then walk up to the Temple of Concord, a folly in the Eastern part of the grounds.

Walking back we pass the Place Pond and then proceed to the Victorian Stable Block and Yard, through the Organic Kitchen Garden and via the Vine House and Pond Garden to the Elysian Garden, with its beautiful Tea House Bridge over the River Cam, its cascade and huge London plane tree. On the way back to the house we stop and see the Polish Special Operations Executive (SOE) War Memorial, unveiled in June 1983.

A lovely day and we will be back in the Spring for sure....Read more