Cliveden

Cliveden Review

Described by Queen Victoria as a "bijou of taste," Cliveden is a magnificent country mansion that has for more than 300 years lived up to its Georgian heritage as a bastion of aesthetic delights. The house, set in 376 acres of gardens and parkland above the River Thames, was rebuilt for the duke of Sutherland by Sir Charles Barry in 1861; the Astors, who purchased it in 1893, made it famous. In the 1920s and '30s the Cliveden Set met here at the strongly conservative (not to say fascist) salon presided over by Nancy Astor, an American who nevertheless was the first woman to sit in Parliament. The public can visit the spectacular grounds, including a yew tree maze, that run down to bluffs overlooking the Thames, as well as three rooms in the house.