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Boughton House
The Buccleuch Collection
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Montagu Monuments
The History of the Gardens
Orpheus – the 21st Century Garden
Grand Etang Restoration Project
Through the Seasons
Boughton Estate
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Contact
Work For Us
The Restoration Project
The Grand Etang Restoration Project demonstrates how the landscapes of the past can be revivified and rejuvenated for the future.
The Grand Etang, located immediately to the north-west of Boughton House is one of the earliest surviving features from the original gardens and designed landscape. It was created in the early 18th century as a reflecting pool for the house and was also used for ice-skating in the winter.
Over the years, benign neglect of The Grand Etang saw it left as a sculptured outline of a normally dry basin.
Restoration Project
Covering almost an acre, containing 1.5 million gallons of water and edged in reclaimed stone it is one of the largest formal bodies of water created in recent years. When it was first constructed in the 1690’s it formed a crucial part of a landscape which amazed contemporaries. At the time it was renowned especially for a fountain, or jet d’eau, which reached the then remarkable height of 58 feet. With the benefit of modern equipment an even more spectacular plume of water will now rise over 75 feet matching the stems of the avenues of ancient lime trees nearby.
Time lapse
The Grand Etang was unveiled in August 2015 with some of the work recorded. You can watch the progress here.
