Our next outing takes us to Stansted House, a magnificent Grade II-listed Edwardian mansion set in 1800 acres of parkland and ancient forest on the Sussex/Hampshire border.
The earliest records of inhabitants on the estate date back to Norman times, when the grounds were used for hunting, and royalty and members of the nobility frequented the park and the hunting lodge. The original house was built in 1686 in the Dutch style for Lord Lumley. Over the centuries, however, it was bought and sold numerous times, and consequently changed in appearance.
In 1900 a great fire destroyed the main part of the house and its contents. Over the next three years it was rebuilt in the Edwardian style on the footprint of the previous house and then sold to Vere Ponsonby, the 9th Earl of Bessborough. Stansted House was privately owned until 1983, when its last owner, the 10th Earl of Bessborough, bequeathed his entire estate to an independent charitable trust to preserve it for posterity, as he had no male heir.
Today, the Stansted Park Foundation prides itself on its policy of sustainable stewardship of the natural environment. At the same time, it can draw on the long history and tradition of the Stansted estate and its ancient forestland. In 2019, Stansted was one of more than 100 historic houses in the UK to donate timber from centuries-old oak trees to help restore the roof structure of Notre Dame Cathedral, which was destroyed by fire in 2019.
Our day begins with an 'Upstairs, Downstairs' tour of the house, including the magnificent State Rooms used to entertain royalty, the rich and the famous, and concludes with a visit to St Paul's Chapel with its unique East window with Christian and Jewish iconography. After that, you are free to explore the Dutch garden, the arboretum, garden centre, pottery studio, bookshop and much more besides. If there is sufficient interest, the yew maze will open specially for our group. A buggy service runs between the House, Chapel and car parks.
For more information about all there is to do and see at Stansted Park, please click here.
To learn more about the history of the house, please click here.
Planned programme for the day:
9.00 (TBC): Depart Hop Oast
10.15: Arrive Stansted House – welcome tea/coffee served in the Main Hall
10.45: 'Upstairs, Downstairs' tour in four separate groups
12.00: Visit the Chapel of St Paul
From 12.30: Lunch (choice of three independent venues – see below)
After lunch: Time to visit the arboretum, maze, pottery studio, second-hand bookshop, farm shop
16.30: Coach departs Stansted
17.45: Arrive Hop Oast
Cost: £39 pp. Trip includes coach hire & gratuity, entry to Stansted House, guided tour + tea/coffee on arrival. Lunch (extra) is available at the Pavilion Tearoom, the Garden Centre Café and – weather permitting – the Farm Shop café. The yew maze will open specially for us if there is sufficient interest.
