An interview with Sir Edward Dashwood
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SIR Edward Dashwood looks out of the window as he shaves each morning and thinks: How lucky am I.
The view is certainly stunning: a tranquil prospect of the lake in the parkland with its ornamental Temple of Music and a backdrop of beech-clad hills. ‘West Wycombe Park may be just on the edge of busy High Wycombe,’ he says, ‘but judicious planting of trees by my forebears ensured there’s not a house in sight.’
West Wycombe Park has been the Dashwood family home since Sir Francis Dashwood returned from his Grand Tour through Europe full of inspiration for a new house. Work on the fine Palladian mansion began in the 1730s, its elegant porticoes and colonnades overlooking sweeping lawns leading down to the lake, temples and follies. On the hilltop opposite is St Lawrence Church topped by a huge golden ball, in which Sir Francis notoriously sat with his Hellfire Club buddies talking politics and thinking up their irreverent mischief which so shocked society of the time.
Today, while Sir Edward, his wife Lady Lucinda and their three teenage children live in the mansion, they have to share it and the park with a constant stream of visitors. The house and park were given to the National Trust in 1943, with the agreement that the family would continue to live there, retaining the estate and house contents.
What’s it like to share your home with Joe Public? Sir Edward is unfazed. ‘People have always visited the house,’ he explains. ‘These places were built to show off, and even in the 18th century it was common for people to ask if they could look around stately homes and landscape gardens. There are lots of accounts in diaries of people coming here. Benjamin Franklin described it as a paradise when he visited.’
While the larger-than-life 18th century 2nd baronet, Sir Francis Dashwood, raised eyebrows with his mock religious club, the erotic connotations within his garden structures, and the murals decorating the staircase that grow increasingly erotic as they reach the bedroom floor, his descendants were rather more prosaic. And that, Sir Edward explains, is why West Wycombe Park is so stunning today. For eight or nine generations the Dashwoods did very little to the house – no adding Victorian wings, or losing the furniture through gambling. ‘It is like the original in every respect, which gives it that uniqueness.’
Sir Edward, the 12th baronet, inherited the title in 2000. A chartered surveyor by training, he now runs the 5,000-acre estate, some of which is leased out to farmers. One corner is devoted to the prestigious E J Churchill clay pigeon shooting ground.
A lot of time is also spent dealing with requests for filming at West Wycombe Park. ‘Most recently, part of Cranford was filmed here at one of the farms. Usually it’s the house that becomes a set, using the furniture collection. It’s great fun and there’s always a surge in visitor numbers after a film comes out. The income from filming is very welcome as it helps with restoration costs.’
Films set here have included The Importance of Being Earnest, American Girl and White Hunter Black Heart. His teenagers usually show little interest in the filming, Sir Edward adds, because it’s usually period dramas, but they were excited when Amanda Bynes came to film What A Girl Wants.
Sir Edward also runs West Wycombe Hell-Fire Caves, created as a quarry for building material but then used by the first Sir Francis for meetings of his Hellfire Club. With its historical tableaux it’s a popular visitor attraction now for families as well as for people interested in the paranormal, as the caves are reputed to be haunted.
Sir Edward’s days are also taken up with facilitating use of the estate for corporate events, antiques roadshows, treasure hunts, charity events and an endless stream of art and photographic groups. ..
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE SUMMER 2008 EDITION OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LIFE OUT NOW!
West Wycombe Park house and grounds (National Trust), two miles west of High Wycombe, are open from June 1 to August 31, Sunday to Thursday, 2pm to 6pm. Infoline 01494 755571, www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Don’t miss:
West Wycombe village, mostly owned by the National Trust, has cottages and inns dating from the 16th to 18th centuries. West Wycombe Hell-Fire Caves, half way up West Wycombe Hill, have winding passages and chambers leading underground for half a mile. Open daily until end of October from 11am to 5.30pm. Café. 01494 533739, www.hellfirecaves.co.uk. West Wycombe Hill is topped by the Italianate style Church of St Lawrence and Dashwood Mausoleum.
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