The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-02-03
TWO PALATIALH HOMES
Where Ambassador Reid Re-
sides in England.
BOTH HISTORIC SHOW PLACES
His Town House Considered by Many
Finer Than Buckingham Palace.
His Other Residence One of the
Most Magnificent and Artistic of
Britain's Great Country Houses.

No American Ambassador to Great Brit
ain has ever been so magnifcently housed
as Whitelaw Reid whose two English
residences. Dorchester House in London
and Wrest Park in Bedfordshire. are
among the historic show places OF that
land of stately homes. Mr.. Reid recog-
nizes the part that social prestige and
lavish entertainment play in the game
Of diplomacy abroad, and possesses the
means TO carry out these ideas, says the
Boston Herald.
Wrest Park, leased from Earl Cowper
is one Of the most beautiful estates in the
United Kingdom, Its value being enhanced
from the Ambassadors standpoint by its
situation-only thirty-eight miles from
London, SO that he can run up from his
country home 20 London in less than an
hour The place was leased by Mr.. Reid
in 1905. after he had acquired Dorchester
House from Capt. Holford, King Edward
making a special request of Capt. HolfoTd
that he give the American Ambassador
this town residence, which was suited
to the Importance OF his Office. BY many.
Dorchester House Is considered a finer
residence than Buckingham Palace, the
Kings home.
WTest Park offers remarkable con-
trast TO Dorchester House whose mag
nifcence is. of course. architectural and
artihciaL For centuries of time have con-
tributed to make the old seat of the Earls
de Grey a home that no amount of mil
finished product of nature. generously and
judiciously assisted, and nature took from
the time of William the Conqueror to
bring Wrest Park up TO its present stand
ard of beauty.
4 Notable Country House.
An English writer has said Of it; If it
were desired TO let a stranger OF more
than average taste learn for himself what
the great country houses and their parks
and gardens mean 10 the country districts
of England we should be inclined to think
that as a whole, Wrest Park would teach
him more than any other"
Its attraction is emphasized by the con
trast 1t presents TO the surrounding re-
gion. The country all about is almost fea-
tureless, plainly rural with few woods or
streams and scarcely a cottage that can
be called picturesque. Then suddenly one
energies upon a fav-reaching scene Of the
most exquisite beauty. Stately parks and
noble woods, great avenues OF grand old
trees lawns of the tenderest green, groves
and walks, limpid pools, statues, terraces,
quaint bridges and pavilions. and gardens
whose splendOrs make one harmonious
blending-tLat is the estate of Wrest
Park, "a veritable earthly paradise where
art has been made TO blend with natures
kindly efforts with SO rare a taste that
the two seem 10 have sprung from the soil
together.
The estates Of Wrest Park stretch for a
goodIy distance in Bedfordshire. There
are two parks. one for deer, where a large
herd Wanders. and another where cattle
Craze; and the walks. for which Wrest
Park is famous. are seven miles I'm length.
But chief among its multitudinous attrac-
tons are the gardens.
beautiful Gardens.
Foremost among them is the Italian gar
den. extending for the full width Of the
house-front, fianked on either side by a
raised turf platform running at right
angles 10 the facade Of the house, and on
the turf in the center stand two rows Of
fine old trees. Close TO the Italian garden
is the rose garden, with famous bit of
sculpture work, a group of mermaids sup
porting vase in the center; and leading
of from these gardens are My Lady's
garden" and d series of formal walled
gardens. Near the house is a garden
called the American ground, and, curl
Ously enough, is gained the name years
before the Reds leased Wrest Park.
though its origin is unknown
Sculpture is freely Distributed through
out these gardens. The statuary in the
Italian garden numbers. among other
works If merit. four magnificent groups
cast in lead One comes upon bits Of
statuary at the most unexpected places,
precisely as at Versailles. In the cen
ter Of the orchard is a statue of Atlas,
boaTy with age. and tiny white marble
figures seem to frollc on the terraces.
A very humid climate imparts 10 Wrest
Park the deep green that is the delight
OF ali visitors The effect of this climate
is further seen in the remarkable growth
of the trees. for the gigantic size and the
regularity of their growth have been q
source Of wonder to less-favored places
I'm England. England's finest ash trees
are in Wrest Park, and a spruce hr
which measures 17Ia feet around the trunk
United Kingdom.
Building Is Modern.
The present house dates only from 1886.
two others having stood on the site since
the de Grey family secured possession OF
the property IN the days when valor in
war won estates The last Earl de Grey
built the house that now stands. demoiish-
ing all traces of the former building. 1t
is Of warm-coIored red stone, with gilded
windows which give to It a peculiarly
bright appearance, and standing at its
doors Mr.. Reid can look across a mile of
gardens.
When Lady Anne Florence, Baroness
Lucas. daughter of the last Earl De Grey,
married the sixth Earl COwper, the place
passed 10 its present owner, the seventh
Earl CowpeT, from whom the American
Ambassador has leased it for the period
OF his stay IN England.