The Monuments of Stowe Gardens

We’ve been lucky to live close to Stowe Gardens for over twenty-five years and have visited many times and during all seasons of the year. This wonderful landscape garden has been attracting visitors for over three hundred years after being first created by Viscount Cobham in 1717. The Grade I listed gardens are now in the care of the National Trust, and one of the attractions - besides the sheer beauty and scale - are the follies, or monuments, that dot the carefully planned landscape as if by accident. In the first week of February 2024, I set out to find all the monuments of Stowe Gardens and create a kind of photographic inventory.

I’m sure I'm not the only one to love a challenge like this! Give any child, young or old, a map and ask them to find these glorious structures and I’m sure you’ll have a great day. or possibly many days, out!

My quest took two days and almost sixteen miles of walking. One reason for visiting in the early season is that Stowe Gardens has a lot of gravel paths that tend not to get muddy. And the few times where you do walk on grass, it was relatively mud free. Even out in the parkland our walk was on good surfaces, with perhaps one slightly boggy area near where Lamport village used to be, and that wasn’t too difficult to navigate. Also, at this time of year it is less crowded, and the snowdrops are out and letting us know that spring is not far away!

For more information on Stowe Gardens and Parkland and opening times and events please visit the National Trust website here.

The Monuments of Stowe Gardens

I’m not sure how many times we’ve visited Stowe Gardens over the years, but I was surprised that my new challenge took me to several areas of the gardens that we had never explored before. One area in particular was Brown’s Cascade and what I would call the Secret Garden. Wow, I loved the doorway entrance to this part of the garden and walking around the trees and ponds. I’m not sure why we never found this area before.

So here are my photos of all the monuments of Stowe Gardens in the order that they are listed on the National Trust map in February 2024. Please note that I’ve used photos from all our visits as not all monuments are open due to repairs or damage. For instance, the Grotto is now closed, and during the winter months the Chinese House is protected from the weather.

On my visit to the gardens in February, I saw every one of the fifty-four monuments listed on the National Trust map. I completed the walk in about five and a half hours and took almost three hundred photos!

For monuments with "Photo Link" after their photograph title, click on the photo to see more photos and information.

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Monuments in Stowe Parkland

To find the monuments in Stowe Parkland, I modified a listed National Trust parkland walk. You can read about our adventures on our Stowe Parkland Walk page. The monuments are again shown in the order that the National Trust listed them on their map, plus I’ve added a few extras I found which are a mini monument in the garden of one of the Boycott Lodges, the Oxford Lodge and the Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Memorial.

I hope you have as much fun as I had chasing the monuments of Stowe Gardens, and if you find any I haven’t mentioned please let me know. Happy hunting…

Oh, and wouldn't you know it. I was researching for another Stowe webpage and found mention of more monument down near the town of Buckingham - the Buckingham Lodges!

It looks like I need to pass that way one day and add them to my list!

And, after my third visit to Stowe Gardens in a month, I found the Buckingham Lodges. They certainly make for an impressive approach to Stowe House and Gardens as the Grand Drive is straight, but lumpy, and heads towards the Corinthian Arch.

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If - like us - you want to take a couple of days to find all the monuments of Stowe Gardens, then why not turn your visit in to a short break or long weekend? Look for local accommodation using our Booking.com search box.

For more England days out return from our monuments of Stowe Gardens page to the Things to do in England page.

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