Strange Place to Scull

The magnificent Stowe Landscape Gardens, which are run by the National Trust, are not far from our home so we visit the regularly. Last weekend they opened their long-awaited new visitor centre that is based at the southern end of the garden near Chackmore and Buckingham. The new centre is based on the New Inn which was an historic inn formerly used by visitors to the famous Stowe Estate.

Because it was half term, and the weather was fine but cold, the new centre was very busy on Sunday . The world, his wife, his children and his dog were there and the new car park was full. We enjoyed a very good walk but it was quite different approaching the gardens from a new direction.

However, we were in for a bigger surprise when we got to the lakes. A sculler was practising on the larger of the two ornamental lakes (simply called The Lake). This is the first time in over a decade of visiting the property that we had seen any evidence of rowing on what is a very small section of water. It can only be around 350m at its longest - even shorter than the old Llandaff Regatta sprint course! It looked like the sculler came from Stowe School. I suppose the water is very handy for some light training.


Sculling at Stowe School

Map of The Lake, Stowe