Mid-C18 pleasure ground by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown as the setting for a late C17 Chiltern villa, extended in the mid-C18, for Lieutenant-General George Howard. A second major phase of development of the gardens followed in the early C19 by Howard’s grandson with head gardener Mr Patrick, in which Brown’s lake was enlarged, kitchen gardens erected, and features and parkland added to the east and south.
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING: Stoke Poges parish is set on the dip slope of the Chiltern Hills in a predominantly wooded area which leads south towards the Thames at Eton and Windsor. The largely level 40 ha site lies 0.5 miles south-east of the parish church and Manor House. It is roughly rectangular, extending c700m north-south and 600m east-west, and slopes gently to the south-west of the lake below the dam. It is bounded to the west by Stoke Road, to the north by Stoke Green and to the east by Wexham Road. A red brick boundary wall (listed Grade II) encloses the north and west roadside boundaries for c500m alongside the pleasure grounds and kitchen garden, with the main, north gateway off Stoke Green. The site is bordered to the south by agricultural land.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES: there were, by the mid- to late C19, three main drives. The principal one of these enters from the north, off Stoke Green, 100m north-east of the front door of the house. The gateway is set back from the road, flanked by curved and rendered wing walls adjoining the boundary walls (listed Grade II). Adjacent to the east, a pair of single-storey C19 brick cottages is hidden from the road by the boundary wall. From here the drive curves south-west to a turning circle in the forecourt to the north elevation of the house, enclosing a broad panel of lawn. The north side of the forecourt is enclosed by the walls to the kitchen gardens. This approach was created following the 1822 Inclosure when the long east-west strip of Stoke Green was acquired by Howard-Vyse, enabling him to extend the grounds by c90m as far north as the Stoke Green road.
The south-west drive enters off Stoke Road c650m south-west of the house, at Stoke Place Farm (C18 farmhouse, barn and cart shed listed Grade II). The disused north-facing gateway is set at right-angles to the road adjacent to the farmhouse and yard. C19 brick piers support tall wrought iron gates and overthrow (listed Grade II). From here the remains of the former south-west drive lead north through the park and into the pleasure grounds to the west of the lake, linking with the turning circle to the north of the house. The south-east drive originally entered through the farmyard at Stoke Place Farm, and led north-east through the park. The southern section survives as a track but no longer links through, as it did, to the east side of the forecourt between the former frame yard and pleasure ground. The south-east park drive had been created by Richard William Howard-Vyse by 1846 (parish map, PR 198/28/8/R) and the south-west drive by 1875 (OS).
PRINCIPAL BUILDING: Stoke Place (listed Grade II) is a long, narrow country villa developed in a number of phases, incorporating Lambe’s fine red brick 1690s central block and Howard’s 1760s-70s wings. The long north entrance front overlooks the main drive and turning circle, and the garden front to the south overlooks a narrow terrace and informal lawns and a lake beyond, framed by trees. Formerly, a view extended further south over the park towards Windsor Castle (1818 Plan of Stoke Place D/121/11/3; late C19 OS), but southerly views are obscured by vegetation.
The service yards and buildings are adjacent to the east of the house with access via a spur off the main, north drive. These are now ancillary buildings to the hotel and include modern additions/replacements. The buildings and yards were screened by planting from the approaches and pleasure ground to the south, some of which survives including mature yew.
The stable yard and block were moved from the east end of the house in the early C19 to a yard 140m further east (1818 Plan of Stoke Place, D/121/11/3; 1846 Stoke Poges Parish plan, 198/28/8/R). The area now (2016) contains modern sheds.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS: the 9 ha rectangle of gardens and pleasure grounds occupies the north-west quarter of the site. To the south of the house an informal lawn leads to the lake beyond, and forms the starting and finishing points for a circuit walk around the lake. A sinuous lake was formed by Brown in the 1760s and formed the centrepiece of the pleasure grounds. The lake was widened and the pleasure grounds were elaborated in the early C19 by head gardener Andrew Patrick for Howard-Vyse. Patrick’s low mounds around the lake survive, with various trees including a fine common oak; nearby are a mature scarlet oak and two mature sweet chestnut, also a fine Atlantic cedar. The remains of a path cross the lawn west to east, 20m south of the house, linking the northern ends of the circuit walk.
To the west of the main lawn and south of the kitchen gardens a group of mature conifers form the remains of a pinetum, likely to date from the late C19. Directly in front of the south elevation of the house, a gravel terrace leads east towards the north end of the lake and a lawn enclosed to the north by a semi-circular red brick wall which divides the gardens from the former frame yard (now a car park) to the north. A pedestrian gateway at the centre of the curved wall is flanked by brick piers and contains a wrought iron gate with Howard-Vyse’s initials (1820s). This east lawn formerly contained the free-standing Classical orangery shown in Gendall’s 1820s view from the south shore of the lake (Rigby, 62).
South of the lawn, the 350m-long lake is surrounded by a wooded walk; the path enjoys views over the water, pleasure grounds, and pasture, partially obscured by C20 tree growth. The path has been diverted, in places, from its original route. Various features punctuate the walk, beginning at the north tip, now dry, where there is a sunken boathouse (late C19) with a rustic masonry façade framing an arched opening. On the north-east side of the lake, 100m south-east of the house, is a mound planted with mature yew which was the position of the former rotunda (also shown in Gendall’s 1820s view, and then on late C19 OS maps). There is a mound at the south-east corner of the pleasure ground, at the corner of the paddock, which late C19 OS maps show was the site of a substantial structure, the rubble remains of which are present. At the south tip of the lake are the ruinous remains of a larger, masonry boat house (1820s) within an artificial mound, its tunnel entrance leading to a partly sunken chamber. It is set back from the water, enclosed by mature yew, and the path passes in front of it alongside the water. The waterside footings of a second boathouse, first present on the 1925 OS, lie nearby to the north-west. On the west side of the lake the path leads along the flattened top of the dam, passing a C19 iron gateway and fencing with the lake outlet to the north. Here Patrick’s 1820s rockwork channel with springs and planters leads to a pool, now dry.
PARK: the park extends south and east of the pleasure ground and was added as the family acquired additional land to the south and east of the pleasure grounds. It remains largely pasture broken up by fences and hedges, planted with scattered mature trees and enclosed by a narrow belt around the roadside boundaries to west, north, and east. The north-east paddock remains a cricket pitch as it was by the early C20 (OS 1932) with associated later C20 buildings and car park in the north-west corner. Stoke Place Farm stands at the south-west corner of the park and formed a feature at the entrance to the two C19 park drives.
KITCHEN GARDEN: the 1 ha kitchen gardens, built by Patrick in the 1820s, follow the curved boundary walls to the north-west of the house. They have high walls enclosing them on the south-east with cross walls forming three compartments, with an early-C19 gardener’s cottage built into that between the two southern sections. The areas remain open and laid largely to grass. Ornamental wrought iron gates bear Howard-Vyse’s initials.
To the east of the main drive lie the remains of a glasshouse and frame yard, also understood to date from the 1820s. It is enclosed to the north by the boundary wall along Stoke Green with a large fig growing against it and evidence of lean-to glasshouses, and a mushroom house surviving adjacent to the cottages. To the south it is bounded by the curved pleasure ground wall with a pedestrian gateway flanked by brick piers giving access to the east lawn and the site of the former orangery.