Park House (Toddington Park)

Tour the grounds, with a talk by the owners on the history of the house and a tour and discussion on their rewilding projects. Spanning 30 acres, the estate includes over 100 specimen trees, a lake, ponds, woodland and wildflower meadows, with plans to add bees and wetland.

Local wildlife spotted includes; cormorants, herons, kite nests, sparrowhawks, woodpeckers, bats, foxes, badgers, owls, muntjac, hares and rabbits. The tour will also include a brief guide to a range of native foraged foods found on the estate.

William Dodge Cooper Cooper inherited the neighbouring Toddington Manor in 1824 but it was in no state to live in, and so they built Park House (named after their London family home, and known in Toddington simply as The Park).  In 1898 the house was leased by Robert Standish Sievier (a journalist and race horse owner) by which he could use the grounds to entertain his friends. He commissioned the groundsman of Lords to build him a cricket pitch and the M.C.C. led by W.G. Grace visited to play Sieviers XI.

After sitting empty from 1905 to 1907, The Park was sold to Colonel Mercer (of Moggerhanger Park), before being requisitioned as a base for the Women’s Land Army in 1939.

The tour will include the exterior of the house, drawing room, entrance and dining room; exhibits and talk by local historian; discussion with the owners on their rewilding projects; Victorian model dairy; converted stables, coach and fire engine house and the grounds including the arboretum, lake and pond.