Boughton House has been the Northamptonshire home of the Dukes of Buccleuch and their Montagu ancestors for nearly five hundred years. It was from St Edmundsbury Abbey that Sir Edward Montagu, Lord Chief Justice to King Henry VIII and ancestor of the present Montagu Douglas Scott family, bought it in 1528. Since then, the original Tudor manor house has been extensively enlarged, to make Boughton what it is today.

By 1750, Boughton had reached a certain peak in its development, and went into what amounted to a "deep sleep". Little happened to it for the next 150 years, until 1900, since when, the head of the family has lived here on a more regular basis than his ancestors.

The Estate, 18,000 acres in 1873 - currently 11,000 acres, contains the remains of what was once 'probably' the finest, formal garden layout in England'. This garden was laid out to the west of the House. The original plan was carried out by the first Duke - Ralph Montagu - between 1684 and 1709.

His son, the second Duke - known as 'John The Planter' - continued and expanded upon his father's work between 1720 and 1749.

Today, the gardens, though returned to nature by the "deep sleep', still show signs of the original layout.

The inspiration for the gardens was European - mainly French and Dutch. The VISTAS - long narrow views between rows of trees, the PARTERRES - level space in garden occupied by flower beds, and the fountains - were based upon French ideas. The canalization of the River Ise is a Dutch inspiration.

Account of the gardens - by John Morton, a historian of the time who wrote in 1712 in his 'Natural History of Northamptonshire (this gives a picture of what the Gardens must have looked like)