With period formal gardens, leading crafts museums, Stockwood Park Rugby Club and extensive golfing facilities, it is about 100 hectares in area.

[1] Stockwood Park Golf Centre is located in the stunning Bedfordshire countryside just a short drive south of Luton.

[2] When Stockwood House was built in 1740 by John Crawley, the grounds were laid out in a fashion befitting one of Bedfordshire’s leading landowners.

Soon after the outbreak of World War II, the house was converted to a hospital catering for children suffering with hip diseases.

The knots were planted out with germander, hyssop and box with the open spaces filled with brick dust or crushed shells to contrast the greenery.

Rock gardens and formal flower bedding schemes were also popular, decorated with a bright and showy variety of half-hardy plants.

The invention of the practical mowing machine in the 1830s made lawns easier to manage and by 1860 were an essential part of garden equipment.