Best viewed LARGE on Black: bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=5832186136&size=large&... The Statue of Apollo at the end of the Long Walk. When Monty Don produced his television series for the BBC, Around the World in 80 Gardens, a few years ago, he chose only two English Gardens - Sissinghurst and Rousham. I had visited Sissinghurst on two of my earlier visits, but I decided I needed to see Rousham on this trip, so I took the 30 minute train trip from crowded, bustling Oxford one cloudy morning and then the easy 15 minute walk from the Heyford station, and was at the entrance to the gardens by 9:45. It was like entering a different world. I got my 5 Pound ticket from a vending machine in the courtyard, and had been wandering around the green landscape for almost an hour before I encountered even one other visitor. According to the Wikipedia entry: "Rousham House is still the home of the Cottrell-Dormer family, who keep the garden and estate so uncommercialised that no book exists to guide the unwitting tourist, and no shop sells postcards or souvenirs. A visit to Rousham today is very similar to one enjoyed by a visitor in the 18th century. The gardens and buildings are superbly maintained but not manicured. The visitor is not made afraid to tread on the grass or to pause for thought on a rustic bench. In such a state a spirit of the 18th century survives at Rousham." For a very well written history of the garden, begun by Charles Bridgman, and refined and completed by William Kent by 1741, here is a link to the entire entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rousham_House Here is the official link: www.rousham.org/ ....
