Magical 'Temple of Freedom' enables contemplative overnight stays in listed garden monument

Gothic Park Temple Apartment
Very british and eccentric lodging in a landmarked temple follie takes you back to the world of 18th century 

The equally curious and eccentric accommodation in a Gothic-looking temple in an extensive landscape park northeast of Oxford proves to be very British and very remote. 

Three towers on a triangular ground plan house two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom flanking a circular living gallery under a golden mosaic dome. 

The key to the exposed domicile on a hill in the middle of a 140-hectare complex is handed over by the school gatekeeper to an affiliated elite boarding school. To see, but also to be seen, that is the motto of the magic temple building from the 18th century - then as now.

The sacral building with its Gothic tracery, the castle-shaped battlements and the tower tops look impressive and awe-inspiring from the outside, almost dismissive. But as soon as you enter the interior through a metal-clad wooden door, you find yourself in a clearly arranged hall that radiates much more comfort than you might think.

The visitor's gaze inevitably wanders upwards, where a splendidly shining dome covered with gold mosaic seduces to astonishment. The corner towers all have round rooms: a well-equipped (round) kitchen, a (round) bathroom with a free-standing tub and colourful windows, the two (round) bedrooms upstairs. 

On the first floor you can look down from the ballustrade of the circular gallery into the living room or outside into the park: antique secretaries and stone benches with upholstered seats invite you to contemplative linger and offer magnificent views of monuments, temples or lakes placed exactly in the field of vision.

The ground plan of the building is triangular, but in each of the three corner towers there is a round room, and also the open high room in the centre, the living room, forms a circle in the triangle through the dome. A circumferential gallery on the first floor repeats the rounding. The sacred atmosphere is softened by the homely furnishings: a dining and a cosy, brightly coloured sofa corner, bookcases and showcases filled with reading material about the history and nature of the park, and French doors in Gothic arches leading out to the park.

The picturesque building was built between 1741 and 1745 by the creator of the famous London concert church St. Martin in the Fields as a so-called folly, a curious building that did not necessarily have to fulfil a practical purpose. The Gothic-looking building only served a very profane purpose: it served as a rain shelter and vantage point for the distinguished company around Lord Cobham, the client, on extensive walks through the extensive park.

Also known as the 'Temple of Freedom', the building is considered the culmination of Cobham's political garden art. His landscape gardener Lancelot Brown shaped and composed the landscape of the park through his masterful technique of painting with nature like a painting, setting precisely calculated rhythmic accents through trees, monuments, follies, bridges, lakes or even through expanse and offering the wandering eye places to linger.

This is a truly magical place full of hidden meaning, political confrontation and 18th century aristocratic amenities. The ambience of the temple, the somewhat musty smell, the unplastered sandstone walls and the lack of any modern means of communication such as telephone, radio or even TV, all this helps to put you back into the world of the 18th century. 

The location in the middle of the beautiful park, popular for picnics with paying day visitors, and the diverse flora and fauna are a truly princely delight. 
A wonderful natural paradise that invites you to ponder and take a walk!

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