Top 5 Natural Monuments around Hatherop

Fashioned of Portland stone and green slate by Fergus Wessel of Stone Workshop and mounted atop a hexagonal pyramid, the 16.4-foot-tall obelisk features one gold-plated bronze pointer on each side. Wavy incised and gilded lines mark the hours and quarter hours, and encircling the obelisk are engraved hieroglyphics that spell, among other things, Queen, Elizabeth, and Eternity—the sundial being Lord Faringdon’s tribute to the British monarch’s 50 years on the throne. Additional smaller obelisks stand around the central example, giving the effect of a mini Valley of the Kings in the middle of bucolic Oxfordshire. Source: architecturaldigest.com

Stop and check out the view from here

Fantastic stretch of new road that is epic to ride. Let’s 2-3 miles.

Taking its name from the place where delicious cheese were once loaded onto boats for shipping to London, Cheese Wharf is now a brilliant wild swimming spot on the River Thames near Buscot. It's owned by the National Trust and there are a couple of parking spaces nearby.

The present Lord Faringdon has, since 1978, transformed what was a grand, but largely redundant, eighteenth-century kitchen garden into a fine ornamental garden with a strong structure, within which a degree of informality is encouraged. Shaped as an irregular octagon, the garden is divided into four quadrants by the two main axis paths. Pleached hop hornbeams (Ostrya carpinifolia) have been planted along the longer east–west axis, with pink and white Judas trees (Cercis siliquastrum) trained over iron arbour tunnels along the shorter north–south axis. The effect, from whichever direction the garden is approached, is to create dramatic vistas, focusing on the central lily pond, with its fountain, statue and handsome balustrade. The Judas trees are at their peak of colour in June, at which point the extensive plantings of day lilies, from Lady Cynthia Carew Pole’s collection at Antony in Cornwall, begin to flower in the main axis beds, producing a succession of multi-coloured blooms throughout the summer and early autumn. The quadrants feature statues of the Four Seasons, by Frank Forster, the winner of a competition promoted by the Faringdon Collection Trustees and by the President of the Royal Academy. Dwarf box hedges surround each quadrant, interrupted by standard trees alternating with clipped Portuguese laurels and chosen to complement the seasonal theme: ‘Golden King’ hollies for winter, the fragrant pink-flowered Viburnum x carlcephalum for spring, the rose-pink lilac Syringa microphylla ‘Superba’ for summer and Hydrangea paniculata for autumn. An Indian bean tree occupies the middle of each quadrant, along with other trees chosen with the seasons in mind: Acer palmatum ‘Senkaki’ (the Coral Bark Maple) for the colour of its stems and bark in winter, along with winter-flowering cherry and Malus ‘Golden Hornet’ for its fruit; various crab apples and cherries for their spring blossom, laburnums for summer, along with the rare hop tree (Ptelea trifoliata) with its small scented flowers and winged fruits; and bright-berried rowans for autumn. http://www.buscot-park.com/grounds/four-seasons-walled-garden

Designed by Harold Peto, who was, in his day, the leading exponent of formal Italianate garden design, the Water Garden was laid out in 1904 for the 1st Lord Faringdon, and extended in a second phase of building in 1911 to 1913. The garden creates a link between the house and the Big Lake that is such an important feature of the original eighteenth-century parkland landscape. Consisting essentially of a chain of stairways, paths, basins and a central canal, the Water Garden is flanked by box hedges, sheltering statues and terracotta jars. http://www.buscot-park.com/grounds/the-peto-water-garden

Obelisk/Sundial created by Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Fashioned of Portland stone and green slate by Fergus Wessel of Stone Workshop and mounted atop a hexagonal pyramid, the 16.4-foot-tall obelisk features one gold-plated bronze pointer on each side. Wavy incised and gilded lines mark the hours and quarter hours, and encircling the obelisk are engraved hieroglyphics that spell, among other things, Queen, Elizabeth, and Eternity—the sundial being Lord Faringdon’s tribute to the British monarch’s 50 years on the throne. Additional smaller obelisks stand around the central example, giving the effect of a mini Valley of the Kings in the middle of bucolic Oxfordshire. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/sir-mark-lennox-boyd-sundials