Tyntesfield

Recently I visited the National Trust property Tyntesfield, which is in North Somerset and around 7 miles from Bristol. It is built in the Victorian Gothic Revival style, and full of really interesting collections, rooms, furniture, and pieces of art. It was on my list to visit this year, but seeing it in the Sherlock special trailer meant that I had to see it for myself! (And yes, I am counting down the days until that episode in broadcast). 

The central staircase

Originally built in the 1830s as a Georgian mansion, it was extensively remodelled and expanded in the 1860s. It was bought by the Trust fairly recently in 2002, and there are many rooms that are still full of collections from floor to ceiling. One of these is open to the public to understand how the house was when it was taken over, and how expansive the collections are. In many other rooms, the Trust has done a fantastic job of recreating the Victorian splendour of Tyntesfield in its prime.

The billiards table with electronic scoring

There are some fantastic objects and pieces of furniture on display throughout the property, including the late Victorian full-size billiards table, with electronic scoring, and its scoreboard, which both stand in the billiard room. Tyntesfield was, in fact, one of the first houses to have electricity installed.

The private chapel

There are a range of rooms that are open in the house, including the higher status rooms in the front of the house, and other rooms that would have been used by the staff. As we visited in mid-November, the house was being prepped for Christmas and undergoing conservation work, which meant that, unfortunately, some of the rooms were closed. However, there were lots of helpful guides of hand to explain what was happening and how the rooms usually looked. Tyntesfield is also open everyday of the year (except for Christmas Day), so I have plenty of time to go back and explore the rest!

Snippets of the top floor tour

The absolute highlight of my visit was the ‘backstage’ tour, which took you around the areas of the house that were occupied by later generations of the family, including the children’s nursery, the servant’s quarters and other rooms. The volunteer who took us around was extremely knowledgable, and with only seven of us in the group, there was plenty of time to ask questions, and take our time looking around. We couldn’t pre-book this tour online and although it wasn’t advertised at the ticket office, we could book our tickets there. From what I can see on the website, these tours aren’t happening with all of the extra things happening over Christmas, but it’s worth asking, and if not, just try out one of the other activities instead! As one of the most popular National Trust properties in the South West, it is also worth reserving your general house tickets online if you want to get in early on the day. 

Overall, it was a great visit, and I will certainly be heading back very soon. 

More information is available at: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/tyntesfield

Montacute House, Somerset

With the nights drawing in, I thought that this was the perfect time to reflect upon some visits that I've made over the past couple of months to historic houses, galleries and other, equally exciting, places. As I've mentioned before, moving to the South West of England has meant that there are plenty more places to explore, some of which I've never heard of before!


One of these is Montacute House, which I visited in June this year. It's a fantastic National Trust property, and well worth a visit! It is an Elizabethan Renaissance mansion, completed in 1601. It was one of National Trust's first great houses after being saved in 1931 by Ernest Cook.

The house itself is great to walk around, with a fascinating range of objects and paintings to discover. If you think it looks familiar, it has appeared several times on screen. Most recently, it has doubled as Greenwich Palace in Wolf Hall (BBC).

Quite often when visiting properties such as this one, rooms are closed without explanation, and it is difficult to understand the changes that they're making. At Montacute, however, there were interpretation boards dotted around to describe changes and renovation that was taking place. It meant that you were able to experience much more of the property, and see different phases of building and decoration too! It would be really great to see this being done at more properties.

Another great thing about Montacute was how open it was. Instead of being limited to one strip of carpet, you could move around the rooms much more freely, and had the chance to look at all of the fascinating objects on display.

One of the highlights of our visit was the National Portrait Gallery exhibit. It contains over 50 Tudor and Jacobean portraits, and was curated with the help of Bristol University students. Whilst I was aware of the exhibition before my visit, I was pleasantly surprised by the range and quality of the collection. I also think that it's fantastic to see portraits of this importance being exhibited in Somerset, and what's more, in a very appropriate setting.

After spending the morning at the house, we decided to head into the village. I would highly recommend doing so, as the village, built almost entirely of local hamstone, is a quintessential English village (and has a couple of very nice pubs too). The church, extensively restored in the 1870s, is also worth a visit.

Montacute House is probably one of the best presented National Trust properties that I have visited in recent years. The staff are very welcoming and knowledgable, and the range of collections, and how they are presented, is fantastic. It's safe to say I'll be returning next year!

For more information about Montacute House, visit: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/montacute-house/