Ashdown House, Oxfordshire

Along with his house at Hamstead Marshall, it is said that William, the first Earl of Craven built Ashdown for her, but she died in 1662 before construction began.

[3] Although the architect is uncertain, it is thought that Craven commissioned Captain William Winde to build the Dutch-style mansion as a hunting lodge and refuge from the plague.

[citation needed] The house was originally built at the junction of the four rides in Craven's hunting park – the four avenues no longer survive as they once did, but portions of them remain.

Nearby is a large group of sarsen stones and Alfred's Castle,[4] a scheduled Iron Age hillfort.

[9] Although a few alterations were made to the house, the building remained largely as-built until it was requisitioned for use by the army during World War II.