The Temple of Concord and Victory is the first building visitors see in the garden. It's a historic building because when it was built in 1747 it was the first building ever in England to imitate Greek architecture.

This woman on top of the Temple of Concord and Victory appears to be painting on thin air. Presumably she is Art personified.

The side view of the Temple of Concord and Victory. This is one of the last pictures I took in Stowe. I liked the play of the sun on the pillars. The cedar on the left is one of a pair planted by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Even from this distance, it's obvious that the Corinthian Arch is huge. In fact there's a four-story-house in each side. The scaffolded building on the left is one of the Lake Pavilions.

An oft-neglected flower is the periwinkle, Vinca major. It flowers very early in spring but often the flowers are hidden by the foliage.

Getting slightly closer, we can tell that the sculpture inside is a newly-gilt woman. If you think the lawn in front of it is strangely manicured, you'd be right. It forms part of a nine-hole golf course used by the pupils of Stowe School.

The Rotondo was originally named the Temple of Venus. It was based on the circular Hellenistic Temple of Venus at Cnidus as described by Vitruvius. The current statue is somewhat reminiscent of some later interpretations of Praxiteles' original.

On a much less grand scale, I found this early dandelion, Taraxum vulgare, growing in the moist soil near the lake.

A sunny view of the Rotondo from the south.

I couldn't quite like the Temple of Venus, no matter how much I like the subject. This bust was the only thing I thought worth showing. I don't know if it's supposed to be Venus. For my money she looks much too chaste.

Walking along the south shore of the Eleven Acre Lake, we are treated to this splendid view of the former ducal palace. If I had had binoculars, I would have been able to see the lions flanking the stairs up to the portico.

Moving swiftly on, we come to the Pebble Alcove.

The words Templa quam dilecta mean "How Beautiful are your Temples". This is of course meant as a pun, since the original family name was also Temple. Still, I cannot but agree. The temples are beautiful. The arms are those of Lord Cobham, who built the Alcove.

The view from the north shows just how elaborate a structure it is and how good it looks with all the pillars in the sun.

More down to earth, parts of the park are grazed by sheep.

The Gothic Temple is owned by the Landmark Trust. They are a charity that lets historic properties as holiday homes and use the income to preserve them. This is an example of one of their fascinating buildings. On this day the Gothic Temple was being used for a function so it was hard to take pictures of it without the photo being cluttered up by cars and strangers.

Now we've arrived at the Saxon Deities dell. The deities represented are the ones who gave name to the days of the week. This is Seatern, the god of agriculture. He lent his name to Saturday. In his basket he carries flowers and fruits to show his abundance. The wheel signifies the wheel of the year. The sculptures were created by the Flemish sculptor John Michael Rysbrack. The originals were sadly sold in the early twenties. These copies were created in the last few years.

Woden was probably still thought of as the king of the Germanic pantheon in the seventeen-twenties when Rysbrack designed the originals of these sculptures. That is after all how he is portrayed in Snorri Sturlason's Prose Edda. However, other historic evidence doesn't necessarily support that. Woden, or Odin as he is known today, is the god of poetry, rune magic and battle. Rysbrack apparently concentrated on the warrior aspect. Woden gave name to Wednesday.

This is Tiw, the sky god who gave name to Tuesday. Apparently his likeness was sculpted before the incident with the wolf Fenrir. Tiw placed his hand in the mouth of the wolf Fenrir as a guarantee that the gods meant no harm when they bound him. When the gods then refused to loose Fenrir, the wolf bit off Tiw's hand.

My guess is that the reason that Tiw isn't portrayed as one-handed is the same as why Odin isn't shown as one-eyed. In this poem by Gilbert West he celebrates the Saxon deities as:
Gods, of a Nation, valiant, wise, and free,
Who conquer'd to establish Liberty!
To whose auspicious Care Britannia owes
Those Laws, on which she stands, by which she rose.

Tiw is associated with the ting, the ancient Germanic form of justice.

There was one empty plinth so the sixth deity is also the last. This is Frig. It's great fun to see West wrestling with his gender perceptions in his description of Frig in his Stowe poem.

With various Emblem next fair Friga charms,
Array'‘d in female Stole and manly Arms.
Expressive Image of that Double Soul,
Prolifick Spirit that informs the Whole;
Whose Genial Power throughout exerts its Sway,
And Earth, and Sea, and Air, its Laws obey.

West was one of Lord Cobham's many nephews. The poem was written in 1732 and at the time it could serve as a guide to the gardens.

I sat down and rested by the Queen's Temple. This is a niche with an urn. I liked the way the sun plays on the stone.

The fountain head of the Seasons Fountain.

The side of the trough on the Seasons Fountain is decorated with heads.

A less wet head is hidden on the side of the Temple of British Worthies. The TBW is a rather bombastic work that celebrates DWM. Alexander Pope, the poet and translator, is a case in point or would be ten years later when he died.

Lord Cobham frequently entertained Pope, Jonathan Swift and other influential friends at Stowe. In fact Pope wrote about Stowe in a poem. These stanzas apply to garden design to this day:
In all, let Nature never be forgot.
But treat the Goddess like a modest fair,
Nor over-dress, nor leave her wholly bare;
Let not each beauty ev'ry where be spy'd,
Where half the skill is decently to hide.
He gains all points who pleasingly confounds
Surprises, varies, and conceals the Bounds.

Maybe not the most exciting of the temples in the gardens, this is the Temple of Ancient Virtue. It is dwarfed by Capability Brown's favourite tree - a lebanon cedar.

The Fane of Pastoral Poetry has had a varied life. It started life as the Gibb's Building, named after its architect. After a few years it was surrounded by British Worthies busts and became known as the Temple of the Worthies. Less than ten years after its inception, it became the Belvedere. Twenty years on and it was turned into a temple to Diana. Another decade on saw it in the current location with the current name.

It was still light when I felt done with Stowe so I drove in to the neighbouring town of Buckingham. Buckingham lent its name to the county of Buckinghamshire. It was also Buckingham that first attracted the Temple family to Stowe. In the seventeenth century it was a "rotten borough", a town that elected many more members of parliament than could be justified by its number of inhabitants or importance to the nation. In Buckingham's case 13 citizens elected 2 MP's. These two parliament seats became the power base of the Temples. Eventually they would lead one of Lord Cobham's numerous nephews, William Pitt, to the Prime Ministership.

The building is one of the first purpose-built county gaols in England. I liked the evening light on the rustic stonework.

The emblem of Buckingham and Buckinghamshire is a cygnet, a swan baby. Presumably that is the reason for this public work of art, portraying a foraging swan.