The house, flanked by two large square service wings, is set in extensive parkland. The house was completed in 1713 and remodelled in 1843. The central block was gutted by fire in 1879 and not rebuilt till 1895, with a slightly revised layout.
I visited Duncombe Park in 2005. Inside, there is the Stone Hall, a lavishly decorated forty-foot cube, and other fine rooms with period furnishings. The house is no longer open to the public, but you can still visit the park and gardens, which are open several days a week during the warmer months.
(If you are curious to see what the house is like inside, check Weddings/Ceremony Locations on the Park website, or enquire about the Special Events.)
The gardens are quite extensive and include two temples, a large formal terrace, and a ruined conservatory.
Category: Parks & Gardens
Parks, gardens, landscape
Wimpole Hall & Estate, Cambs.
Tyntesfield, Somerset
National Trust
An impressive Victorian estate and one of the NT’s more high-profile acquisitions, Tyntesfield is deep in the Somerset countryside. Besides the house and chapel there are gardens and miscellaneous out-buildings, with the inevitable restaurant, shop, café and visitor centre. When acquired, the house was a time-warp and stuffed with period objects. When I visited, the formal rooms were quite impressive, and the service and other rooms that were opened were full of miscellaneous stuff. The Chapel is next to the house but had a separate entrance, which was also used to give access to some rooms in the upper part of the house.
Update: Sept 2014.
Since my last visit, the NT visitor’s entrance has been moved to the service yard, a few more formal and service rooms have been opened on the ground floor, and the upper floor has been opened for visitors. The tour now exits via the Chapel. (My old guidebook shows the Billiard Room, Mrs Gibbs’ Room, and the Old Servants’ Hall as accessible, but they are not on the 2014 tour.)
The central hall, Library, Dining room and Drawing Room are impressively decorated in Victorian style and fully furnished.
Upstairs, approx ten rooms can be visited. These are less impressive than the downstairs rooms, but still interesting, and some are still filled with undisplayed stuff.
The Chapel is the size of a smaller church, and an impressive and colourful example of Victoriana.
In the house, it’s amusing to note that an analog Mitsubishi TV belonging to the last owner has become a NT exhibit. 🙂
Toddington Manor, Beds.
Private – non current.
The manor has a long history, and parts date from the Tudor period. The building used to be much bigger (see Wikipedia).
The gardens were open to the public on limited dates, and when I went a few years ago a tractor collection and other agricultural things were also on display. The gardens (with lake) are quite worth seeing. The house is not open to the public.
Toddington Manor is of special interest to me as until recently it was owned by Sir Neville Bowman-Shaw, who was the MD of Boss Trucks Ltd, where I used to work, and which went bust in 1994. I lost my job, while Sir Neville continued to lord it over Toddington Manor.
The estate was sold, asking price £6.5M. The tractor collection was apparently sold at auction.
The estate agent’s brochure gave a surprising amount of detail.
Audley End, Essex
English Heritage
In contrast to many EH properties, Audley End is complete and fully furnished. The house origins date from the period of Henry VIII, when Audley was three times its present size, but the present appearance of the house, inside and out, dates from the 19th century. Noted occupants include Henrietta Howard, later a royal mistress and occupant of Marble Hill House, Richmond. The contents, including pictures and a natural history collection, are well worth seeing. Note that most of the best stuff is on the first floor, so that on our last family visit my sister and I saw a lot more items than did my late mother, who was in her wheelchair and preferred to wait below. Apart from the house, there is the Service Wing, with re-enactments of servant life, The Stable Block, with horses, the Walled Garden, the Gardens with artificial lake, and extensive parkland. The gardens behind the house are worth a walk-around.
Recent revisit: August 2018, nurseries now open on upper floor.
Suggested visit time: at least a half day – there’s plenty to see and do.
Boarstall Tower, Bucks
A 14th century moated gatehouse tower, once part of a fortified manor house. The tower is fairly small but quite interesting, and there are some views from the roof. The gardens are attractive.
Restricted opening – see NT guidebook or website. Worth a visit if you are in the area.
The Boarstall Duck decoy is nearby, and it’s possible to visit both the same afternoon.
Boughton House, Northants.
Private (HHA)
An imposing house “The English Versailles” notable for looking a bit like a French palace. The contents include fabulous treasures – a large collection of fine art including paintings, furniture, porcelain, weapons, textiles, claiming to be one of the major treasure houses of England. It has seven courtyards and a wing which remains as an unfinished shell, revealing details of the construction. The gardens and estate are also notable. The 17th century design features of the gardens, including square ponds and a series of canals have been restored. Note the pyramidal mound and the matching hole ‘Orpheus’. The walled garden near the house is also worth a visit. The house is open during August and a few other dates, the gardens more often. Suggested visit time: at least a half day.
The visitor information includes prices for optional tours. When I visited, my basic admission (free with HHA) allowed a self-guided tour of the State Rooms and most of the ground floor, and the grounds, but the optional tours were fully booked.
All photos from May 2024 visit.
Cotehele, Cornwall
A historic estate on the banks of the Tamar. The Tudor house and its contents have changed little over the years and are well worth seeing. Most rooms have extensive catalogue notes provided. The house has no electricity, so it might be worth bringing your own torch on a dull day to better see objects in some rooms. Many of the rooms are lined with tapestries.
Outside are two orchards, gardens, a folly tower, walks, and a little further off, Cotehele Quay with its museum, and restored Tamar sailing barge Shamrock. Half a mile from the Quay is Cotehele Mill, a working mill.
There is a lot to see in the house in various rooms spread over three floor levels. Around the house are attractive gardens. The triangular folly tower, in a field with inquisitive cows, can be climbed for a view of the surrounding country. The Mill has a working watermill and several displays of old workshops.
There is enough to see to make it an all-day visit. Road access is by narrow twisty hilly roads. It is possible to arrive by water from Plymouth.
For visitors not over keen on walking, a minibus runs between the house, Quay and Mill. It is also possible to park by the house and then move one’s car to the lower car park at the quay. There is a restaurant at the house and another at the Quay.
Cottesbrooke Hall, Northants
Private
A Queen Anne house in extensive grounds. Building of the house was started in 1702 by Sir John Langham, with the East and West bows added around 1780. Some alterations and modernisations were made in the 20th Century. The house is currently owned by the Buchanan family.
Two flanking pavilions are joined to the main house by curving corridors, one of which contains a noted collection of English, Chinese and Continental porcelain. There is an exceptional collection of sporting pictures. The house is notable for being exceptionally well maintained: almost everything inside looks like new. The house is open to visitors on limited dates during the warmer months, and admission is by conducted tour.
The grounds are extensive, with parkland, a series of well-planted formal gardens around the house enclosed by walls or hedges, and a woodland garden with a stream and a couple of garden buildings at a little distance from the house.
When driving to the estate, allow extra time for negotiating slow and congested roads in this part of Northamptonshire.
Forest Centre, Marston Moretaine, Beds
This area was used for brick clay extraction, and the land is now being reclaimed by planting parts as forest, and establishing nature reserves. In the Forest Centre building is an exhibition that makes a noble effort to get the public interested in forestry and forest products, and also a café. Nearby is a wetlands reserve which can be visited, for a fee. There are also walks around the lakes, and watersports on Stewartby Lake.
If you are interested in the Great Outdoors and our feathered friends, you should have a great time here. I’d recommend taking advantage of all available navigational aids, as the ground is flat and there are screens of small trees, so it’s often hard to see where anything is, where you are, or which big square lake you are looking at.
For car-free access there is a railway station at Millbrook, a healthy 20 minutes brisk walk distant.