The Water Garden was one of the first areas the 1st Lord Astor laid out, having been inspired by the huge interest in oriental design at the turn of the 20th century. Lord Astor designed his own oriental formal garden through carefully considered Japanese planting, including blossom, bamboo and camellias, and a large lily-pond complete with Koi Carp and a flowing water feature. He positioned a six-sided Chinese pagoda, a copy of a pavilion that was erected in the garden of the château de Romainville, near Paris, in the 1780s, in the middle of the garden. Many of these aspects of Lord Astor’s fashionable garden can still be seen today.