The three sculptures sited so far have been
carefully chosen to ft in with the natural landscape
of woodland and meadow that still covers most of
the property. Richard Long’s riverine, groundhugging
slate creation meanders down a hillside.
The closer one gets to Jaume Plensa’s trio of
genderless, faceless agglomerations of stainless
steel letters, the more transparent they seem,
almost merging into the landscape behind them.
The massive curving steel panels of the Richard
Serra sculpture will gradually weather to a rich
rusty brown that will be set ofbeautifully by the
greenery around it.
Several gardens surround the renovated 1880
house, including a rill garden that runs down into
the woods, with paths leading to a fountain and
bench at the bottom. The swimming pool and
surrounding area were also renovated. The pool
area, provided with its own surrounding screen of
shrubs and evergreen hedges, now features matching
terraces on either end adorned with identical sets of
furniture arranged in identical positions. Visitors
can easily be fooled into thinking this is simply a
refecting pool, another sculptural element in a
garden where the focus is always on the art.