Waddesdon Manor was built 1874-89 in the style of a 16th century French château, for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to entertain his guests and display his vast collection of art treasures.

The Tulip Patch is an area of mature trees close to the Stables, quite different in character to the rest of the gardens. A path circles past a number of small grottoes constructed by James Pulham, the Victorian gardener famous for his fantastical creations. Using real and fake stone - cement and rock carefully shaped to be almost indistinguishable from the real thing - Pulham built his caves, grottoes and water features in many of the most fashionable gardens of Victorian Britain. One example was for the Prince of Wales at Sandringham and another was at Gunnersbury - another Rothschild Garden.