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The house and grounds as redesigned by Geddes
Hyslop for the 2nd Lord Faringdon in the 1930s (photograph published in
Country Life in May 1940)
Ironically, the 2nd Lord Faringdons first
action on inheriting Buscot in 1934 was to remove his predecessors
additions, including Campbells elaborate porch and balustrade and
the 1st Lord Faringdons large west wing, which marred the restrained
lines of the original Darley and Loveden design. His architect was Geddes
Hyslop, who designed, at the same time, the two balancing pavilions that
now stand west and east of the house.
Today the main elevation is much as it must have appeared in 1780. The
severity of the composition is relieved by the slight projection of the
three central bays, which support a pediment enriched with a flowing foliage
design and bearing the Faringdon crest. A broad flight of steps, flanked
by bronze centaurs after the antique originals in the Capitoline Museum,
gives access to the house on the piano nobile.
Buscot from the South, painted by Eric Ravilious
for the 2nd Lord Faringdon in the mid-1930s #
To the south, Hyslop introduced the wrought-iron
screen and stone gate-piers on a ha-ha wall and linked the south-front
lawn to the kitchen garden by creating a hedged flight of steps, centred
on the pond at the centre of the walled garden. The north-front lawn was
linked to the Peto water garden by semi-circular stone steps, and a radiating
patte doie (goose-foot) of avenues and garden enclosures was laid
out to the south of the Peto garden, aligned on the mansion.
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