What a privilege and delight it would be, to celebrate a day at the Waddesdon Dairy, which encompasses so many worlds and pleasures. The fairy-tale Victorian building, perched above its own lake, looks out over water towards a landscape of rocks. There flora and exotic fauna abound in a wild setting, where ancient and modern worlds meet. Roses cascade over ferns, while moorhens cluck in the shallows and modern sculpture adds an element of fantasy. Elephants lumber down to the water, a gorilla sits watchfully in a glade, while a pair of bronze flamingos stalk the grass. For lovers of art, Fairhurst and Frink are names to conjure with and here their works can be seen from every angle. This is the ultimate visual experience, which could never be replicated in a museum.

The Rothschild family have always been collectors, but the late Lord Rothschild has far outclassed his ancestors in connoisseurship. The Dairy showcases his personal quest for perfection in all the treasures it contains. From the ancient world, there are marble fragments, classical urns, Roman busts, and a laughing Centaur , who beckons a welcome  to  guests as they enter the courtyard. In years nearer our own time, the acquisitions of Rothschild taste, provide so much to enjoy. Hung on the walls inside the Dairy are 18th century paintings of horses, 19th century architectural drawings, and plenty of examples of 20th century art. Among the crimson gilt and grandeur, you might find a thoughtful set of drawings of an orchard after Rubens, by the American painter John Hubbard. And if celebrity glamour is more your style, look for a picture of Nicole Kidman, photographed by Mario Testino at Waddesdon in 2006. What a chance to borrow the life of the Man in a Chair painted by Lucian Freud, to feel ownership of all these amazing treasures, while the place is your place for a day. 

A Country Life article in 1909 wrote, ‘The dairy itself is one of the most charming we have ever seen. We doubt if there is a more beautiful one in Great Britain. The outside is a picture in itself, as the building is set, so to speak, in a framework of rose beds.… The little tea room adjoining the dairy is a treasure house of what is beautiful, curious or ancient.’ When the neglected Dairy was restored in the late 1990s, with help of Julian and Isabel Bannerman (By Appointment to HRH Prince of Wales ) the buildings were designed as   offices  and for private entertainment.  More recently, it was decided to share the place with a wider audience, as an exclusive entertaining venue. The offices have been moved, to leave a large reception hall and  arrangement of the rooms into a second ‘Treasure house of what is beautiful, curious or ancient.’ has been personally directed by the late Lord Rothschild. Comfortable living has not been forgotten. In the lofty rooms, sofas and chairs are placed for restful talk where once butter was churned and cream skimmed from  the milk of estate pastured cows. 

Outside, there are Rose beds still and a wire covered rose arbour covered in climbers. In spring, wisteria drapes the brick walls and the air is heavy with the scent of orange blossom. In autumn, grapes cluster on the vines, adding another reminder that the place is a haunt of Bacchus, the God of Wine and celebration.  Come winter, the cheerful patterning of the brickwork and wood fires indoors ?? provide  a refuge from cold, while the lake sparkles in the subtle outdoor  lighting . Quoting Keats, the late Lord Rothschild says ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.’ For storing up memories of beauty, could there be any   better place to do it, than in the Waddesdon Dairy? 

Written by Lady Mary Keane, Author of Paradise and Plenty: A Rothschild Family Garden