The most notorious temple of Sir Francis, 2nd Bt., the Temple of Venus stands on a small mound and takes the form of a rotunda enclosing a copy of the Venus de Milo. The parlour is a grotto or cave beneath the mound entered through an oval opening flanked by curving screen walls. Specifically designed to represent ‘the opening through which we all enter into this world’ it was intended as the central focal point of the park when viewed from the house. The original temple was demolished in 1819, but the present temple and parlour were reconstructed by the late Sir Francis Dashwood in 1982.