East Dorset Landscape Character Assessment - Dorsetforyou.com

There are three areas of historic Parkland within the downlandassociated with important historic houses; Kingston Lacey in the south,Crichel adjacent to the Gussage chalk river valley and Wimborne StGiles. All make important contributions to the landscape, particularly interms of their associated tree planting.Crichel House stands in a classical eighteenth-century landscape setting.The park features a landscaped lake, with a backdrop of maturewoodland. However, the size of the park has successively shrunk sincethe 1940's and much of the land has been returned to agriculture. Thehouse and park make such a strong influence on the landscape towarrant the delineation of a separate character zone. Crichel Lake wasformed by damming Crichel Stream near to its confluence with the Allen.The Parkland is visually separated from the river valley by thickwoodlandKingston Lacy House viewed from Badbury RingsKingston Lacy Park has similar parkland setting to Crichel or St. Giles,but without a landscaped lake, there is only a small pond. Alongside theboundaries are belts of thick woodland that separate the park from thesurrounding countryside and give it an introspective character. TheHouse was built by Sir Roger Pratt in 1665 and remodelled in thenineteenth century by Sir Charles Barry. The Grade I Listed Building iscentrally placed within the park, and the various contrived views of it givethe Park its unique character.Photo: Peter MounceView of Kington Lacy House and part of the park looking towards Poole HarbourEast Dorset District Council District Landscape Character Assessment 200815