Maidenhead -- Cliveden

Cliveden is an historically significant estate set on 130-foot high banks above the River Thames, with its grounds sloping down to the river. Comprising about 375 acres, the estate's current mansion was built in 1851 by architect Charles Barry for George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, the 2nd Duke of Sutherland. Notable owners in the early 20th century included Waldorf and Nancy Astor. The estate's gardens include about 180 acres, while the rest of the property is woodland and paddocks. Highlights of the gardens include a formal four-acre parterre, topiary, a water garden, an herbaceous plant "Secret" garden (replacing an earlier rose garden designed by Geoffrey Jellicoe), a lime tree avenue, and a maze. Temples, pavilions, follies, and sculpture complement the plant material. The property is currently owned by the National Trust (Great Britain), which leases the mansion as a hotel. Cliveden was visited during the Garden Club of America's June 1929 tour to England. A complete copy of the GCA tour itinerary was printed in the Bulletin of the Garden Club of America (Fourth Series, No. 5), September 1929, pp. 6-25.

Persons associated with the property include Sir Charles Barry (architect and landscape architect, 1851); George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland (former owner, 1850-1861); John Fleming (gardener, ca. 1851); Charles Bridgeman (gardener, ca. 1720); Waldorf and Nancy Astor, Viscount and Viscountess Astor (former owners, 1906-1942); and Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe (garden designer, 1959).