Ditchley Park

Completed in 1722 on the site of an earlier historical house by James Gibb for the Lee family who occupied it until 1932. The exterior is said to 'personify the Age of Reason in Stone'. The house was decorated by a team of artists and craftsmen including William Kent and Henry Flitcroft, and contains elegant mouldings, marble fireplace and statuary as befitted an era of elegance.It is a very comfortable house and is now occupied as an Anglo-American conference centre maintaining the American association of the Lee family, one of whose descendants was General Robert E Lee who fought in the American Civil War.

During Worlds War II, Winston Churchill, (whose home was, at nearby Blenheim) and Allied leaders used Ditchley as a planning centre for D-Day and other strategies.The park was landscaped in the 18th century by Capability Brown.