Hotels near the Waddesdon Manor (Gardens and Aviary)

Waddesdon Manor Gardens is a fine example of High Victorian gardening, with traditional three-dimensional carpet bedding. The summer months here are spectacular and there's lots to do all year round.

Beth Rothschild, Lord Rothschild's daughter, who studied horticulture at Kew, has been at the centre of the garden's recent modernisation. Talented designers have redesigned existing features.

In 2000, American-born artist John Hubbard devised a water-inspired carpet bedding design, and experts also rejuvenated the original Victorian rose arbour, which is planted with the luscious Miss Alice rose (named after Alice de Rothschild).

Beth Rothschild herself has personally designed a children's garden as well as masterminding an ambitious tree-planting scheme with the help of the famous Michael Lear. Each member of the family has had a copse of trees planted in their honour. Lord Rothschild can admire his wood of black poplars, known as Jacob's Wood, and Beth's mother is given a native English wooded copse, while each of her children and nieces have been given their own wood.

The grandest planting of them all is Ferdinand's Avenue, symbolically linking her son Ferdinand with the Baron Ferdinand who built Waddesdon Manor back in the 19th century. The avenue contains oaks on either side to a distance of 2000 paces (one for each year of the millennium) and on either side of this path the individual family woodlands pan out.

Without doubt, Waddesdon Manor has one of the finest Victorian gardens in the country. Don't miss the Aviary, containing many species of rare bird, and take a picnic as there are plenty of places for visitors to enjoy lunch in the grounds.