Tatton Park

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Image:Tatton house.jpg
The Mansion, Tatton Park.

Tatton Park is a country park containing a stately home close to Knutsford, Cheshire, England.

Contents

[edit] History

Tatton Park house is a neo-classical building designed by Samuel Wyatt in 1791 and scaled down and completed by his nephew Lewis Wyatt in the early 19th century. It is a Grade I listed building.[1]

During World War II, Lord Egerton's parkland was used for the training of all allied paratroops by No.1 Parachute Training School based at the nearby Ringway RAF base, which is now Manchester Airport. Trainees, including special agents, made their first drops from cages suspended under Barrage Balloons, and then jumped from aircraft over Tatton Park.

[edit] Features of the estate

[edit] House

The contents of the house include furniture by Gillows of Lancaster and paintings by Canaletto and Anthony Van Dyck.

[edit] Parkland and garden

Image:Tatton japanese.jpg
The Japanese Garden, Tatton Park.

The parkland at Tatton covers an area of one thousand acres (4 km²). It is home to two types of deer, Fallow Deer and the larger Red Deer. The latter are particularly impressive in autumn during the rutting season.

The garden is one of the largest in the north of England, featuring a fernery, an orangery, a tower garden, a pinetum and a Japanese Garden agreed by most experts to be the finest in the UK and Ireland.[2] There is also a maze, an arboretum, a kitchen garden and an Italian garden.

[edit] Lakes

Image:TattonMere.jpg
Tatton Mere, Tatton Park

There are waterfowl on the two main lakes, Tatton Mere and Melchet Mere. These attract a varied selection of ducks and geese including Canada Geese, Great Crested Grebe, Common Goldeneye and occasionally, Smew. The black heads of European Stonechats can easily be spotted along the shore of Tatton Mere and Green Woodpeckers can be seen in the parkland closer to the house. Other species regularly seen include Goldfinches, Eurasian Siskins, Long-tailed Tits and the smallest species in Europe, Goldcrests.

[edit] Other features

Other features of the estate include a Tudor Old Hall (built around 1520 and purchased in 1598 by Thomas Egerton), a working 1930s farm, a children's play area and speciality shops. The annual Tatton Park Flower Show, run by the Royal Horticultural Society, is one of the largest horticultural shows in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Events

The following annual events take place at Tatton Park:

  • RHS Flower Show
  • American Cars Weekend
  • Last Night of The Tatton Proms
  • Summer Pops
  • Classic Cars Weekend
  • Christmas Market

[edit] Public Transport

Tatton Park is not well served by public transport. However, improvements have recently been made to the bus service serving Tatton Park. There is now an hourly bus service on Saturdays between Macclesfield, Chelford, Knutsford and Tatton Park, with alternate buses stopping outside Knutsford Railway Station. This is the No. 27 bus operated by Bowers.

This means that visitors from Manchester, Stockport, Chester, Altrincham and Northwich can catch a train to Knutsford to connect with the bus service. Visitors from Congleton, Stoke-on-Trent, The Midlands and The South can connect with the bus service from Macclesfield Station. Visitors from Crewe, Sandbach and Alderley Edge can connect with the bus from Chelford Station. Visitors from Wilmslow can change buses at Knutsford Bus Station.

During the RHS Show buses are available to visitors using Knutsford and Altrincham stations to the show ground. This is a highly recommended way of getting to the show as roads in and around Knutsford are heavily congested on show days.

[edit] Ownership

The park is owned by the National Trust, but the parkland is financed, administered and maintained by Cheshire County Council. This means that National Trust members do not get free car parking at Tatton Park.

[edit] References

This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes.
Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (May 2007)
  1. ^ Images of England, accessed 17 July 2007
  2. ^ (September/October 2003) "UK and Ireland Survey". Japanese Garden Journal 35. Retrieved on 2007-12-11.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/Tatton_Park"
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