The
Oaks was the home of the Earl of Derby. The house was originally built
by a society of gentlemen called the Hunter's Club on land leased to
them by a Mr Lambert, thus the house became known as Lambert's Oaks.
The house was meant as a place of festivity during the hunting season.
The earl acquired the lease, adding the two buildings with four towers
each at each end of the house. In the gardens there were many ancient
beeches; one tree was said to contain a spring as it always contained
water – there was another well at the house which was three hundred
feet deep. The earl could accommodate many guests in the fifty bedchambers
of the house.
The
village of Banstead itself, not far from Epsom, was noted for its abundance
of walnut trees as well the beautiful nearby downs which were carpeted
with "short herbage, perfumed with thyme and juniper". Unfortunately,
by the end of the Georgian period much of the downs had been turned
over to agriculture.
