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Audley End House & Gardens tel: 01799 522 842 Area: Essex |
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| Visitor Information | Email: audleyendhouse //at// english-heritage.org.uk |
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Audley End House & Gardens |
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| Opening Days and Hours | ||||||
17 Feb - 23 Feb: Daily 10am-4pm |
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| Parties
/ Coaches: Yes |
Groups
/ Coaches need Appointment: Yes Pre-booked guided tours |
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House
Open for Viewing: Yes |
National
Garden Scheme days: No |
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Best
Times of Year to Visit: All Year round |
To
see: Enjoy a great day out at one of England's grandest stately homes; Audley End House. The doors of our restored historic stables recently opened, complete with resident horses and a Victorian groom. Our stables experience includes an exhibition where you can find out about the workers who lived on the estate in the 1880s, the tack house and the Audley End fire engine. Try our dressing up clothes in the stables and meet our horses, Duke and Jack, too. Children can let loose in our fun themed play area next to our Cart Yard Cafˇ which is always very popular with visitors. Audley End House itself is a magnificent house, built to entertain royalty, and includes a Victorian Service Wing complete with kitchen, laundries and a dairy. With beautiful grounds to explore, including an impressive formal garden and the working Organic Kitchen Garden, there's so much to see and do at Audley End House. |
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| Admission Prices | ||||||
| Adult £13.40, Child (5-15 yrs) £8.00, Concessions £12.10 Family (2 Adults, 3 Children) £34.80 English Heritage Members Free |
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| Onsite Facilities | ||||||
| Parking:
Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes |
Shop:
Yes Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: Yes |
Teas:
Yes Light Refreshment: Yes Picnics: Yes |
Dogs
Allowed: Yes On Lead only: Yes Special Events: Yes |
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| Other
Facilities & Comments: Craft and Food Show Garden Show Country Show |
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| Garden Features & Events | ||||||
| Lancelot 'Capability' Brown landscape, Adam bridge, 1830's parterre, organic walled kitchen garden Jacobean House with Robert Adam rooms, Canalettos etc. Archaeologically surveyed & restores Fish Hatchery and Historic kitchen with displays of utensils |
English Heritage Garden Grade: I | |||||
| National Collection: | ||||||
| Description of Garden | Designer:
'Capability' Brown |
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| Beautiful 'Capability' Brown designed landscape with a parterre, now restored, planted on the south side of the house in the 1830's. The River Cam winds through the grounds and is used to create a cascade, a pond garden and is crossed by a lovely Robert Adam designed bridge and by a Palladian Tea House. Other spectacular monuments include a "Temple of Concord" built to celebrate George III's (temporary) recovery from madness and several other follies designed and sited to draw the eye down a particular vista. The organic kitchen garden, a joint venture between between English Heritage and the Henry Doubleday Research Organisation, was opened in 2000 by Prince Charles and is laid out in a huge area surrounded by old brick walls. The 16th century brick stables to the south of it are older and more attractive than the house itself. The Mount garden, originally designed to allow guests at the house to promenade in the garden, viewing it from a height, is also scheduled to be restored. | ||||||
| History of Garden | ||||||
| This is an ancient site which was originally owned by a Benedictine Abbey. An enormous house, with expansive formal gardens, was built for Thomas Howard, the admiral who commanded the British fleet against the Armada and was later created Earl of Suffolk. It was acquired by Charles II in 1669, James I having previously described it as "too large for a King, but might do for a Lord Treasurer!". The vast wings on the house, which marched towards the River Cam, were pulled down after Sir John Griffin Griffin (later 1st Lord Braybrooke) bought the property in the mid-18th century. He favoured a more naturalistic approach and commissioned 'Capability Brown' to discard the formal rectangular layout and landscape the gardens and park very much as it appears today. The 3rd Lord Braybrooke planted the parterre in the 1830's. The property was acquired by English Heritage after WWII. | ||||||
| Nearby Essex Hotels, Facilities & Amenities | ||||||
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& Accommodation: |
Restaurants: |
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Villages / Towns
/ Sightseeing: Audley End Saffron Walden |
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- Essex |
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*Information
Updates
0193_AudleyEnd.jpg - Audley End House & Gardens (Essex)
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