Stowe Landscape Park

Acquisition of Stowe landscape park and its 37 garden buildings and structures. Stowe is the outstanding monument to English landscape gardening and is of European significance. The gardens and their temples were developed over 130 years from 1718 until 1848 by Vanbrugh, Bridgeman, Kent Gibbs, Leoni, Brown and others. They epitomise the various stages in the development of the landscape garden. The House and park were taken over by Stowe School in 1923, but the maintenance of such a large number of historic buildings and structures in the Park were beyond its resources. An anonymous donor offered £1.8 million, and NHMF offered £4.5 million, leaving the National Trust to raise a further £1million by appeal. The NHMF grant was for endowment and a programme of capital repairs. Stowe School would transfer ownership to the National Trust.