After the duke had acquired the former manor of the
Bombast von Hohenheim family in 1768, he gave it to his mistress
Franziska Leutrum von Ertingen, including the title of a
Reichsgräfin von Hohenheim. From 1772 Karl Eugen had the manor house rebuilt as a
water castle surrounded by an extended
English garden featuring several midget replicas of historic buildings, an
arboretum and numerous exotic plants. The construction of the present-day palace started in 1782 but discontinued with the duke's death in 1793. In 1818 King
William I of Württemberg established an agricultural school at Hohenheim, the predecessor of today's university. Today the gardens comprise the
Landesarboretum Baden-Württemberg and the
Botanischer Garten der Universität Hohenheim. ==Transportation==