Gayhurst Court, Newport Pagnell, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.  

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

A medieval deer park existed, probably sited south-west of the house, in the vicinity of Hoo Wood (Records of Bucks 20, 442), and is shown on John Speed's county map of 1610. The Nevill family owned the estate during the 15th century and much of the 16th century, building the oldest part of the present house in about 1500 on the site of an older manor house. The Digby family owned the property from 1596 to 1704, when it was bought by George Wrighte. His son George II built the church, removed the village to the Newport Pagnell to Northampton turnpike and brought in Lancelot Brown (1716-1783) to landscape the park, probably about 1751, around the time Brown left Stowe to set up his own practice. George Wrighte III employed Humphry Repton (1752-1818) in about 1793 on alterations to the pleasure grounds and park, probably at the same time as he was working on the landscape at Tyringham. If one was indeed produced, the whereabouts of the Red Book for Gayhurst is unknown, but Repton mentioned his work here in his published volume 'Sketches and hints on landscape gardening' (1794), quotes including:

The water in the park, though it consists of several pieces of different levels has the effect of being one single sheet when seen from the house: this was very ingeniously executed by Mr. Brown; but I have also connected the neighbouring river and the park, by means of a dressed walk which passes under the turnpike road; and the banks of this river are worthy of every effort to make them a part of the beautiful scenery of the place.

The property was let to the second Lord Carrington from 1842 to 1877, during whose tenancy elaborate additions and alterations were made to the house and garden. During the Second World War the house and grounds were used as an outstation for Bletchley Park's decoding activities and various buildings were erected in the park (now, 1997, gone). In the 1970s the house and service buildings were converted to houses and flats.