As part of yesterday’s tour of Oxfordshire and Eastern Berkshire me, Stan and Franc visited Ashdown House. It is beautiful, looking rather like a huge dolls house made of chalk. Ashdown House is a 17th century country house in the civil parish of Ashbury in the English county of Oxfordshire, until 1974 the house was in the county of Berkshire, and the nearby village of Lambourn remains in that county, but you know how things change in this life.
Ashdown House’s main historical is association is with the “Winter Queen” Elizabeth of Bohemia, the sister of Charles I. Along with his house at Hamstead Marshall, it is said that the William, the first Earl of Craven built Ashdown for her, but she died in 1662 before construction began and never saw the place built.
Although the architect is uncertain, it is thought that Craven commissioned Captain William Winde to build the Dutch-style mansion as a hunting lodge and refuge from the plague. The house features 8,000 square feet of living space, a large central staircase, reception rooms, interlinking drawing and sitting rooms, a kitchen, a dining room and eight bedrooms. The property includes two lodges, three cottages and a hundred acres of land. The house is isolated, and the view from the roof includes park-like grounds and gardens, and beyond, woods and pastures. Nearby is a large group of sarsen stones and Alfred’s Castle, an Iron Age hill fort. Although a few alterations were made, the building remained largely as-built until it was requisitioned for use by the army during World War II. The occupation left it in a near derelict state.
The National Trust has owned Ashdown House since 1956 when it was donated to the trust by Cornelia, Countess of Craven. The house is tenanted, and has been renovated by recent tenants especially the Goulandris family who left many beautiful artefacts in the house. A 41-year lease was apparently purchased in 2010 by Pete Townshend from the band The Who. Public access is restricted to the stairs and roof, which has really spectacular views of Berkshire Downs. There is also public access to the neighboring Ashdown Woods. Click here for entry details from the National Trust.
Stuart Austin 