Tatton Park. Tatton Park is an historic estate in Cheshire, England, north of the town of Knutsford. It contains a mansion, Tatton Hall, a medieval manor house, Tatton Old Hall, Tatton Park Gardens, a farm and a deer park of 2,000 acres. It is a popular visitor attraction and hosts over a hundred events annually. The estate is owned by the National Trust, who administer it jointly with Cheshire East Council. Since 1999, it has hosted North West England's annual Royal Horticultural Society flower show. There is evidence of human habitation in the area of the estate going back to the Iron Age. In medieval times the village of Tatton was on the site. This has since disappeared but the area of the village and its roadways are a Scheduled Ancient Monument. By the end of the 15th century the estate was owned by the Stanley family who built and occupied the Old Hall. By the 1580s this building had been enlarged and it was owned by the Brereton family. In 1598 the estate was bought by Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor of England. Sir Thomas and his children rarely visited the estate and it was loaned to tenants. At the end of the 17th century the estate was owned by John Egerton, Sir Thomas' grandson, who built a new house on the site of the present mansion, some 0.75 miles to the west of the Old Hall. This mansion, Tatton Hall, was extensively altered and extended between 1780 and 1813. In 1795 the estate covered 251,000 acres. The estate remained in the ownership of the Egerton family until the last Lord Egerton died without issue in 1958. In his will, the last Lord Egerton left the house to the National Trust and gave them the park in lieu of death duties. However, as the estate itself was sold by his executors, Cheshire County Council committed to a 99-year lease in place of an endowment to ensure that it was preserved for the benefit of the nation. The Trust's ownership is some 2,000 acres. The Hall and Park have been developed into a visitor attraction on an increasingly commercial basis, which has caused significant controversy in particular with the recent BeWilderWood proposals. Main article: Tatton Old Hall The hall was originally timber-framed, which was subsequently replaced by brick. It is L-shaped, in two storeys. The floors that had been inserted into the older wing have been removed, revealing the complex wooden roof. The Old Hall stands in grounds surrounded by a wall. Within these grounds is a reconstructed cruck barn. It is timber-framed with brick infill and has a thatched roof. Most of the timber has come from a demolished barn at Clotton Hoofield. The barn has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. Main article: Tatton Hall Around 1716 a new house was built on a separate site for the Egerton family. From 1758 improvements were made to the house and between the 1770s and 1816 most of it was replaced by the present neoclassical mansion, designed by Samuel Wyatt and his nephew Lewis William Wyatt. Further additions to the house were made in 1861-62 and in 1884. During the late 19th century large house parties were held in the hall, some of them attended by British and foreign royalty. The mansion contains much of the furniture made for its occupants by the family firm Gillows of Lancaster. There are over 150 provenanced or marked Gillow examples. Also in the hall is a large collection of paintings, many of them being portraits of the Egerton family, and in addition paintings by Canaletto, Poussin, Chardin, Van Dyck, Vasari, and many others. The Library contains first editions of two novels by Jane Austen. One room is dedicated to a collection of items from around the world assembled by the last owner of the house, Maurice Egerton. In the family wing are the servants' quarters. These include rooms containing much of the equipment and many of the utensils used to serve the family. The hall is a member of the Historic Houses Association. To the north of the mansion is Home Farm, which provided food and building services for the estate. It has been maintained to look much as it did in the 1930s when electricity replaced steam to operate the farm machinery. It is now open as a visitor attraction and contains a variety of farm animals. The farm takes an interest in caring for and breeding rare breeds of farm animals, including Tamworth pigs, Red Poll cows and Leicester Longwool sheep. In 2007 the farm received accreditation by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Main article: Tatton Park Gardens The gardens lie to the south of the hall and consist of formal and more natural gardens. Immediately to the southeast of the hall is the Italian Garden, a formal garden on two terraces, containing a statue of Neptune as its centrepiece.