Stouts Hill is an 18th-Century Gothic revival country house situated in the Cotswolds

Cotswolds

The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

, just outside the village of Uley

Uley

Uley is a village in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated in a wooded valley in the Cotswold escarpment, on the road between Dursley and Stroud. The population is around 1,100, but was much greater during the early years of the industrial revolution, when the village was...

. The house is currently a timeshare

Timeshare

A timeshare is a form of ownership or right to the use of a property, or the term used to describe such properties. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each sharer is allotted a period of time in which they may use...

 property.

Although there are records of one Adam le Stut settled here in the 13th century, the present house, built for the Gyde family of local weavers, dates only from 1743, the design being attributed to William Halfpenny

William Halfpenny

William Halfpenny was an English 18th-century architectural designer; in some of his publications he described himself as "architect and carpenter". He also wrote under the name of Michael Hoare.-Life and architectural work:...

. In the late 18th century, the estate was acquired by the Lloyd Baker family, whose principal estate was established at Hardwicke

Hardwicke (Stroud), Gloucestershire

Hardwicke is a village south of Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. Despite its close proximity to Gloucester, the village actually comes under Stroud Council....

 Court, near Gloucester. It was subsequently occupied as a secondary house by members of the family, including Colonel Browne. Stouts Hill was the birthplace reputedly of the Gloucestershire historian, Samuel Rudder, and of the distinguished Persian

Persian literature

Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...

 scholar Edward Granville Browne

Edward Granville Browne

Edward Granville Browne , born in Stouts Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, England, was a British orientalist who published numerous articles and books of academic value, mainly in the areas of history and literature...

.

From 1935 until 1979 it was let for use as a private boys' preparatory school

Preparatory school (UK)

In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...

 in which some 100 pupils were boarders. Notable former pupils of the school include Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...

, who makes a detailed reference to the school in his autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot, and Captain Mark Phillips

Mark Phillips

-Ancestry:-Issue:-Sources:...

, former husband of Anne, the Princess Royal

Anne, Princess Royal

Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

.

Website

http://www.stoutshill.co.uk/

http://stoutshillschool.blogspot.com/