Cliveden

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Cliveden is an Italianate mansion and estate at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. Set on banks 200 feet above the River Thames, it's grounds slope down to the river. The site has been home to an Earl, two Dukes, a Prince of Wales and the Viscounts Astor. Today owned by the National Trust, the house is leased as a five-star hotel run by von Essen hotels. During the 1970s, it was occupied by Stanford University of California who used it as an overseas campus. Previously, as home of Nancy Astor, it was the meeting place of the Cliveden set of the 1920s and 1930s - a group of political intelectuals. Later, during the 1960s, it became the setting for key events of the notorious Profumo Affair. "Cliveden" means "valley among cliffs" and refers to the dean or valley which cuts through the estate to the east and south of the house. The gardens and woodlands (375 acres) are open to the public, together with parts of the house on certain days. There have been three houses on this site: the first, built in 1666, burned down in 1795 and the second house (1824) was also destroyed by fire, in 1849.