Nature Observation Hide

Nature Observation Hide, Ashton

A nature observation hide dating to around 1900, probably designed by William Huckvale for Lord Rothschild as part of his comprehensive redevelopment of the Ashton Estate.

The structure is built of wood and covered externally in rushes, pinned in place by battens, with a reed-thatched roof. It is polygonal in plan. The building features a conical roof topped with a finial painted in Rothschild blue. The south-facing elevation is particularly distinctive, with the line of the eaves rising in curves over a continuous zig-zag arrangement of windows. These windows are organised into four small bays separated by three sections with less pronounced angles. The interior is lined with vertical planking on the walls and horizontal planking around the polygonal ceiling. Access is gained through a planked door from the path to the north.

The hide is shown on the 1926 Ordnance Survey map, positioned to overlook the larger lake or fishpond from the north-east, at approximately 0.5 kilometres from the formal gardens. The path from the lily pond garden gate leads to the hide before continuing to the boathouse.

The Ashton Estate had been occupied since Roman times and was a well-known sporting estate in the 18th century. When purchased by Lionel Rothschild in 1860, it was described as a valuable landed estate with sporting advantages but without a house suitable for a gentleman. Structural development was limited to a hunting lodge until 1900, when Lord Rothschild's second son, Nathaniel Charles Rothschild (known as Charles), persuaded his father to commission William Huckvale to design a house on the hunting lodge site, together with a model farm and comprehensive estate buildings including a steward's house, stables, gardeners' accommodation, kennels and a dog hospital. Most cottages at nearby Ashton were rebuilt to create a model village. The nature observation hide was likely designed by Huckvale as part of this wider estate development.

Charles Rothschild was a banker and renowned naturalist, becoming the leading expert on fleas in the country. A pioneering conservationist, he was the first to argue that entire natural habitats required protection rather than simply rare species. He purchased part of Wicken Fen in 1899 and donated it to the National Trust two years later, and founded the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves in 1912, now known as the Royal Society for Nature Conservation. The wider landscape at Ashton was designed to provide natural habitats to attract wildlife, in contrast to the conventional Edwardian formality of the garden near the house.

Following Charles Rothschild's death in 1923 and that of his wife Rozsika in 1940, their daughter Miriam inherited the estate. Like her father, she was deeply involved in conservation, transforming the Edwardian garden by planting trees on the terraces and sowing wildflower meadows. She continued her father's work with fleas to become an international expert in her own right, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and appointed DBE for her services to the study of natural history.