Chinese Dairy And Adjoining Covered Ways

This is an ornamental dairy in the Chinese Chippendale style, built around 1788 by Henry Holland for Francis, 5th Duke of Bedford. Flanking covered ways, which may be later additions, are simpler in style and not of Chinese design. A porch was added shortly after 1804 by Humphry Repton. The building is primarily of painted timber with slate roofs.

The dairy itself is a small, square building situated on the west edge of an ornamental pond. It is single-storied with a shallow, cross-gabled roof. A flat-roofed verandah wraps around the north, east, and south elevations. The west elevation is built against a wall of coursed ironstone. The east elevation features central part-glazed double doors flanked by casement windows of matching proportions. The north and south elevations have large, central windows. Each gable is pierced by a segmental-arched light. The roof is topped by an octagonal lantern with fretwork sides and a canopied roof. The verandah has timber columns with moulded bases and ornamental cut timber brackets. Geometrical trelliswork balustrading sits between columns and forms the verandah parapet, all paved with hexagonal stones. The exterior paintwork is predominantly red and white.

The interior displays ornate painted decoration, likely the work of John Grace, featuring mock fretwork and bamboo-work in blue-grey, ochre, gold, and black. Round-arched alcoves at the corners give the room an octagonal form. The windows contain painted glass depicting figures, birds, insects, and foliage; one window includes the inscription "John Theodore Perrache fecit. 1794." The lower parts of the walls are finished with grey marble and ceramic tiles, while the floor is paved with stone, including marble. Bamboo and fretwork tables with marble tops are placed around the walls and in the centre of the room. A lantern made of bamboo and painted gauze is suspended from the ceiling.

The covered ways adjoin the dairy to the north and south. The north one connects the dairy to game larders, and the south one runs along the rest of the west side and part of the south side of the pond. These covered ways have hollow-chamfered timber piers and timber segmental arches crowned by a gabled roof, sharing a similar colour scheme with the dairy’s exterior.