The best MTB trails around Lillingstone Lovell

Nice spot for coffee, a good selection of cakes and a breakfast menu up to 11:45 and lunch from midday. No cycle stands outside, but you can prop your bike against the solid wooden pillars. A few outside tables

From here it is not far to the Palladian Bridge.

Woodland walk along the edge of the magnificent Stowe Landscape Gardens. If you have time, you may want to divert into the gardens and explore the many structures and statues here.

The village of Syresham is surrounded by pockets of ancient woodland, which were once royal hunting grounds. There are plenty of fine trails through these woods and forests. Whistley Wood and the larger Hazelborough are nearby, though the latter may be a tad noisy on the weekend of the English Grand Prix, due to neighbouring Silverstone. The village is the start point for the Ouse Valley Way, which follows the River Great Ouse from its source near the village to the Wash at King's Lynn. Officially, the start point is outside the Kings Head Inn, which is also a good place to stay. There's also Priory B&B in the north of the village.

Surrounding Stowe House, the grand 18th-century home of the powerful Temple-Grenville family, Stowe Landscape Gardens are a Georgian delight. Winding paths take you along lakesides, past architectural treats and to picture-postcard views. Dogs are welcome as long as they are kept on leads and there are even designated water bowls along the trails.

Stowe House is a beautiful Grade I-listed country house, surrounded by wonderful parkland and majestic gardens. The gardens and park are owned by the National Trust and are open to the public, while Stowe House itself is the home of the independent Stowe School. The estate has existed in various forms since the 16th century but it was in the 18th century that the powerful Temple-Grenville family built the lavish country house. It was said to be so grand that even Queen Victoria was taken aback by the splendour of its interior. However, wild parties, scandal and excessive spending saw the Temple-Grenville's go from the richest family in England to the greatest debtors in the world. Fortunately for Stowe House, investors revived its fortunes in 1922, when the school was founded.

The Survey reports that building on the Temple of Friendship was begun as early as 1737, assuming that work listed in accounts for that year on a Temple of Diana set on Diana's Bastion refers to the Temple of Friendship. The building was designed by James Gibbs, who was responsible for most of the buildings in Hawkwell Field and who was called back to Stowe as architectural designer after William Kent left around 1736. Gibbs' final design, as reported by Bevington, was for a central room flanked on the east and west by two loggias. The building is fronted by a Tuscan portico, and in 1772-74 the core and roof of the building were heightened, perhaps to match the growth of the surrounding trees, but certainly to provide a larger silhouette to catch the eye from other viewpoints in the field. Inscribed on the exterior of the building is AMICITIAE S (sacred to friendship), and inside were placed busts in white marble of Lord Cobham and nine of his friends: Earl Bathurst, the Earl of Chatham, the Earl of Chesterfield, Earl Gower, the Earl of Marchmont, Earl Temple, the Earl of Westmoreland, Lord Lyttleton, and Frederick, Prince of Wales. (Three of these men were Cobham's nephews: his heir Richard Grenville, later Earl Temple; William Pitt, later Earl of Chatham; and Sir George Lyttelton.) On the ceiling was a painting of Britannia surrounded by other figures, one of which held a label with the words "The Reign of King Edward III," another of which held a scroll with the words "The Reign of Queen Elizabeth," and a third holding a scroll with the incomplete title "The Reign of ------" which was covered by Britannia's mantle and which she seemed unwilling to look at. Views from the portico include the Temple of Ancient Virtue in the Elysian fields to the northwest, the Queen's Temple at the far end of Hawkwell Field, and Lord Cobham's Monument, the Gothic Temple, and the Palladian Bridge along the east side. From the windows in the rear of the central room the Corinthian Arch can be seen, and at a time before the view was obscured by planting, the Temple of Venus could be seen on Kent's Bastion to the west. A fire in the early nineteenth century rendered the building an empty shell, and parts of it in danger of falling were demolished in 1884. Today the Temple has the feeling of a romantic ruin. http://faculty.bsc.edu/jtatter/friends.html