Polesden Lacey
Encyclopedia
Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian house (expanded from an earlier building) and estate. It is located on the North Downs
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...

 at Great Bookham
Great Bookham
-Today:The village has a high street, located in Great Bookham, which is, as its name suggests, the larger of the two villages. It has two butchers, a family run fishmongers and two traditional greengrocers...

, near Dorking
Dorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...

, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is owned and run by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

 and is one of the Trust's most popular properties.

This Regency
English Regency
The Regency era in the United Kingdom is the period between 1811—when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, the Prince of Wales, ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent—and 1820, when the Prince Regent became George IV on the death of his father....

 house was extensively remodelled in 1906 by the Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville, a well-known Edwardian hostess. Her collection of fine paintings, furniture, porcelain and silver is displayed in the reception rooms and galleries, as it was at the time of her celebrated house parties.

There are extensive grounds, a walled rose garden, lawns and landscape walks through part of the estate of 1,400 acres (5.6 square kilometres).

The future King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...

 and Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...

 spent part of their honeymoon here in 1923.

Previous houses

The name 'Polesden' is thought to be Saxon. The first house was built here by 1336. Anthony Rous bought the estate in 1630 and rebuilt the medieval house. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...

, the poet and playwright, bought the house in 1804.

The house at one time belonged to Sir Francis Geary
Sir Francis Geary, 1st Baronet
Sir Francis Geary was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, and the American War of Independence, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral.-Family and early life:...

 but his Polesden Lacey was demolished when Joseph Bonsor bought the estate and had the present house built. He died in 1835, and the house passed to his son. Since then, there have been several owners of the property until it was bought in 1906 by William McEwan, for Captain the Honourable Ronald Greville
Ronald Greville
Hon. Ronald Henry Fulke Greville was an English Conservative Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for Bradford East from 1896 to 1906.-Early life:...

 and his wife, the former Margaret Anderson, William McEwan's daughter.

Remodelling of the house

Architects Charles Mewès
Charles Mewès
Charles Frédéric Mewès was a French architect and designer.-Biography:Charles Frédéric Mewès was born at Strasbourg. He came from a Jewish family of Baltic origin. The whole family left Alsace in 1870 during the Prussian invasion. At 20, he joined the office of Jean-Louis Pascal, a then famous...

 and Arthur Davis
Arthur Joseph Davis
Arthur Joseph Davis was a British architect. Davis studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts in the 1890s. He was the co-partner in the firm Mewes & Davis, with Charles Mewès. The firm designed the elevations and interior decoration of the London Ritz Hotel which introduced modern French comfort...

, who were responsible for the Ritz Hotel
Ritz Hotel
The Ritz London is a luxury 5-star hotel located in Piccadilly and overlooking Green Park in London.- History :Swiss hotelier César Ritz, former manager of the Savoy Hotel, opened the hotel on 24 May 1906...

 in London, remodelled the house for the Grevilles, remodelling the 19th century design of Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt , born Buxton, Norfolk, was the leading master builder in London in the second quarter of the 19th century, and also carried out several projects in other parts of England.-Background:...

. The couple filled the house with collections of fine furniture, porcelain, and silver, and art.

Polesden Lacey today

Polesden Lacey was left to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

 by Mrs Greville in 1942 in memory of her father, William McEwan (she was his illegitimate daughter and sole heir). There was a serious fire in 1960, which caused damage but not serious loss. In 1995 the National Trust embarked on a programme of restoration and renovation. In 2008/9 the visitor facilities were fairly extensively re-furbished, with a new car park, cafe, shop and farm shop. It received 250,000 visitors in 2007–2008 and 215,000 in 2008–2009, placing it in the Trust's top ten most-visited properties.

Less than half the property is open for viewing. This is because Mrs Greville stated in her will that the bedrooms and such should not be opened. Many of the outbuildings are used by the National Trust as a regional administration centre. The National Trust normally runs sessions to see behind the scenes, including 'Waking-up the House' tours, as the house is opened for the visitor season (early March in 2009) and similar sessions at the end of the season.

There are a number of walks around the Polesden Lacey estate, especially in the valley that the main house overlooks. The estate includes a Youth Hostel, Tanners Hatch.

The re-modelling of the facilities in 2008/9 means that the cafe and shop (as well as the walks) can now be accessed without paying for admission.

Polesden Lacey also has open-air performing facilities, which are used during the summer to host various musical and theatrical events. In 2009 there was the Polesden Lacey Festival.

Trivia

  • The gardens of this house (and the surrounding countryside) were used as location for the 1991 Stephen Poliakoff
    Stephen Poliakoff
    Stephen Poliakoff, CBE, FRSL is an acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter, widely judged amongst Britain's foremost television dramatists.-Early life and career:...

     film Close My Eyes
    Close My Eyes (film)
    Close My Eyes is a 1991 film written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff and starring Alan Rickman, Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves as well as Lesley Sharp and Karl Johnson...

    .
  • The front of this house was used as a location for the 1997 film Shooting Fish
    Shooting Fish
    Shooting Fish is a 1997 British film co-written by Richard Holmes and Stefan Schwartz. Holmes produced and Schwartz directed. It co-starred Dan Futterman and Stuart Townsend as two con men with Kate Beckinsale as their unwilling assistant. It was produced by Winchester Films and partly funded by...

    .
  • Miss Marple, At Bertram's Hotel, with Geraldine McEwan http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0906049/
  • Midsomer Murder, The Creeper (Series 12)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1447352/

External links

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