Adderbury Lakes: A Small But Well Kept Secret

Last weekend we visited Adderbury Lakes in the village of Adderbury in Oxfordshire. It is a small Nature Reserve, whose existence, many people in the vicinity are unaware of, with two small lakes which used to be part of the estate of Adderbury House, a large 17th century country home owned by Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester.

The house has been remodelled several times over the years: in 1661 for Anne Wilmot, Countess of Rochester, in 1722 for John Campbell 2nd Duke of Argyll, in 1731 by the architect Roger Morris and in 1768 by the architect Sir William Chambers for Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch. At this time Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was commisioned to produce a design for a park and there is a rough undated sketch of the proposed lakes in one of his work-books. Sadly most of the house was demolished in 1808. In the 19th century Adderbury House was owned by Major Larnach whose Adderbury-trained horse Jeddah won the Derby at odds of 100-1 in 1898 and also won at Ascot the same year.

After the second world war it became a nursing home and about fifteen years ago, after it had stood empty for ten years following the closure of the home, the house was bought by Anton Bilton a wealthy property developer who gave the lakes to the village which are now managed by the Adderbury Lakes committee and beautifully maintained by parties of volunteers.

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention by Diane Bratt, Chairman of the Lakes and of Adderbury Parish Council, that, and I quote:

'Anton bought Adderbury House but he never bought the Lakes. The Lakes (like the House) were owned by the County Council and Adderbury Parish Council bought the Lakes from them.'

I apologise for any misunderstanding, my information was published in good faith and from a supposedly reliable source.

The lakes in their present form were created around 1815 by the then owner William Hunt Chamberlain. He also added a number of structures including an ice-house, a boat-house, a small covered viewing seat and a summer-house.

On our way to the lakes the sun was shining radiantly as we followed the winding footpath,


lined with Cow Parsley,


but it promptly disappeared as we reached them!


There are some wonderful, very old trees, some dating back to the early 1800s.


As we walked through these trees we came across,


this Mallard resting among the vegetation.

'Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups.
It bottoms ups.'

(Ogden Nash)

There is an impressive list of birds to be seen including Hobby, Kestrel, Spotted Flycatcher, Green and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tree Creeper, Nuthatch and many, many more but sadly we only heard some of their songs and I'm afraid I have never been very good at identification by song.

We saw Buttercups,

'I found a buttercup today;
A lovely thing it was, indeed,
And yet in theory, a weed.'

(Reginald Arkell)

Bluebells,

'Oh that lone flower recalled for me
My happy childhood's hours
When Bluebells seemed like fairy gifts
A prize among the flowers.'

(Anne Bronte)

Herb Robert,

'Little Herb Robert,
Bright and small,
Peeps from the bank
Or the old stone wall.'

(Cicely Mary Barker)

The Ice-House built around 1815 was an early version of the modern day refrigerator and is now a listed building.

This small covered viewing seat is dated around the same time and was marked as a garden seat on Capability Brown's plan.

'What is this life, if full of care,
We have no time to [sit] and stare.

(W.H. Davies)

The Summer-House is now reduced in size and reshaped since the lakes were re-claimed.


In this lovely tranquil place not all was peaceful!

Moorhens

Ramsons or Wild Garlic was growing in abundant splendour.

It has been necessary to fell some trees because their roots were beginning to pose a danger to the dam between the lakes, others have been felled or reduced in size as they were dead and becoming a potential hazard by the footpaths. Many of these have been retained to provide habitat for insects and to allow fungi to form as the wood rots.



We saw Ground Ivy flowers

'And where beech trees had mixed a pale green light
With the ground ivy's blue.

(W.B Yeats)

and Rowan

'Oh! Rowan Tree Oh! Rowan Tree!

Thoul't aye be dear to me,

Entwined thou art wi many ties,
O' home and infancy,
Thy leaves were aye the first o spring,
Thy flowr's the simmers pride;
There was nae sic a bonny tree,
In a' the countryside'

(Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne)

We walked back past the old Boat-House,

along the winding path, pausing to admire Wisteria on an adjoining house,


and back to the gates to remind ourselves of all the bird and animal life which we could have seen!

A very enjoyable outing though and well worth a return visit to hopefully see more bird life. Finally a big thank you to A and S for telling us about this lovely place.