Audley End House & Gardens 1) Please COPY the ENTIRE FORM below and paste it into an email to start 2) UPDATE your information carefully. We check it, but might not notice any errors, etc. 3) Prefix the SECTION HEADERS with: *** - Example: ***Opening Days: (new info) 4) email the ENTIRE FORM UPDATED back to us ASAP: wd (at) armchair-travel (dot) com **************************************************************** **************************************************************** Garden Name: Audley End House & Gardens Last Modified (we set this): 16-02-2013 Garden ID (we set this): 0193 pic (we set this): 0193_AudleyEnd.jpg NOTE: If "missing", then please send us a picture for which is at least 1000 x 1000 pixels in size. Thanks! Garden Owner: English Heritage Address: Saffron Walden Postcode: CB11 4JF County: Essex Country: tel: 01799 522 842 fax: 01799 521 276 website: www.english-heritage.org.uk/audleyend public email: audleyendhouse //at// english-heritage.org.uk admin / private email: (add here for GG-only usage) group master website: English Heritage Grade (I, II, II*): I Opening Days & Times: 17 Feb - 23 Feb: Daily 10am-4pm29 Mar - 3 Nov: Daily 10am-6pm4 Nov - 31 Mar: Sat-Sun 10am-4pmLast entry one hour before closing. House will close at 5pm in September and October due to low light levels. House closed in winter (Nov-Mar) Parties / Coaches (Yes/No): Yes Parties / Coaches Comments: Viewing by Appointment (Yes/No): Yes Viewing by Appointment Comments: Pre-booked guided tours House Open for Viewing (Yes/No): Yes House Open Comments/Dates/Times: Please see our opening times National/Scotland Garden Scheme days (Yes/No): No NGS/SGS Comments (PLEASE include DATES and Times): Best Times of Year to Visit: All Year round ...To see (pair by line with Best times to visit): 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. Admission Prices: Adult £13.40, Child (5-15 yrs) £8.00, Concessions £12.10Family (2 Adults, 3 Children) £34.80 English Heritage Members Free 12 (Yes/No only) items follow here- Parking: Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes Shop: Yes Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: Yes Teas: Yes Refreshments: Yes Picnics: Yes Dogs allowed: Yes Only on Lead: Yes Events: Yes Other Facilities or Comments on (Yes/No) items above: Craft and Food ShowGarden ShowCountry Show Special Features, Events/Dates and other comments: Lancelot 'Capability' Brown landscape, Adam bridge, 1830's parterre, organic walled kitchen gardenJacobean House with Robert Adam rooms, Canalettos etc. Archaeologically surveyed & restores Fish Hatchery and Historic kitchen with displays of utensils National Collection: Garden Designer: 'Capability' Brown Description of Garden: 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. Garden History: 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. Local Inns (name, town): Accommodation (name, town): Restaurants (name, town): Village/Town/Sightseeing: Audley EndSaffron Walden