Osterley Park

Osterley Park is a hidden West London gem.  Now owned by the National Trust, Osterley is  “surrounded by gardens, park and farmland … one of the last surviving country estates in London.  Once described by Horace Walpole as ‘the palace of palaces’, Osterley was created in the late 18th century by architect and designer Robert Adam for the Child family to entertain and impress their friends and clients“.
Today the house is presented as it would have looked in the 1780s, although due to revised Winter opening, it wasn’t open on the day we visited . Visitors can stroll through the colourful formal gardens, which were transformed during a six year long project from an overgrown wilderness back to their 18th century grandeur of herbaceous borders, roses and ornamental vegetables beds. Lovers of TV costume dramas may well think Osterley looks familiar, and they’d be right.  Both the house and parkland have appeared in several period pieces over the years.  Although I’d imagine that the proximity of the M4 motorway, which actually cuts through the estate, and the overhead arrival of an airliner into Heathrow every ninety seconds presents their own unique set of challenges.