A DRAMATIC addition to one of the most important designed landscapes in England is being unveiled this summer at Boughton House.
The Grand Etang (pictured), a long-forgotten lake that once dominated the principal approach to the house near Kettering, has been re-dug and filled with clear spring water in which the magnificent north front of the house is magically reflected for the first time for two centuries.
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. First constructed in the 1690s, 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 more than 75 feet.
Boughton has long been known as the English Versailles for the way in which it echoes the vision of Louis XIV’s great palace near Paris.
The Duke of Buccleuch is to switch on the new fountain for visitors to enjoy when Boughton House and Gardens open to the public throughout August.