Polesden Lacey

Polesden Lacey is a house and grounds (12 ha) owned by the National Trust. It's in Great Bookham, 8 km west of Dorking, just south of the M25, south of London.

Polesden Lacey goes back to the eighteenth century. But the present house dates from the 1820s, and the house, the gardens and the grounds were greatly redesigned for Captain and Mrs Ronald Greville, who bought it all in 1906. The Captain died in 1908, but Mrs Greville, the McEwans beer heiress, was both a merry and a social-climbing widow, and the house hosted numerous eminent guests: writers, artists, politicians, and -- vastly more interesting to the average Brit than to myself -- royals. Whether Mrs Ron really enjoyed all this or was primarily out to impress isn't something I know offhand; whatever the motive, she did have an excellent garden done up for her, and the architects of the Ritz were employed to gussy up the house, which is one in which I'd be happy to live and which has bookshelves with dozens of the sorts of books that I'd like to take out and look at (not permitted, of course).

Despite being so close to London, Polesden Lacey is next to a lot of wildlife. There's a small amphitheatre on the grounds, where you can listen to pop and jazz (generally of the more demure varieties) and can also watch drama in late June, early July, and occasionally other times. Open-air Shakespeare is marvellous: the hardy players (who are very good) aren't defeated by mere rain. Not everyone in the audience is, either: I was lucky in that my own visits were dry, but my mother recalls one rainy evening when she and my father, soaked, stuck it out till the end, when the remaining audience was less numerous than the cast, who applauded them. (Yes, you may use an umbrella -- to cover your knees. You may not hold it above your head.)

Here's the house, built in the 1820s to the design of Thomas Cubitt (the man who supervised the building of the Grosvenor Estate in London's Belgravia) and renovated in the first decade of the twentieth century. (No photos of the interior, as National Trust regulations don't permit this.)

Polesden Lacey has a great view across the Mole valley to Ranmore common, three quarters of which belongs to the National Trust. The small building you see is Tanner's Hatch youth hostel.

The remaining quarter of Ranmore common belongs to Adrian White, the owner of the Denbies estate and the chairman of Biwater. He has fenced off some of the paths within this quarter of the common. (If public access to commons interests you, head over to the Ramblers' Association.)

Some way below the level of the house, and extending to its left, is the Long Walk, a long belvedere that was begun in 1761 and enlarged for the playwright and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who had bought it in 1796 with his wife's dowry. (Unfortunately procrastination, liabilities for a fire in the Drury Lane Theatre, and alcoholism conspired to prevent him from doing much with the house or grounds.) In the photos above, the Mole valley is down to the left and the house is (invisibly) up on the right.

Miscellaneous views along the Long Walk.

To the side, there's a covered bridge over a road cut into the hillside. The gate at the far side of the bridge always used to be locked. Now it opens into an orchard. Somehow I'm so used to the gate being locked that entering the orchard seems like trespassing.

Four views of the same sundial.

Lots of plants to look at in Polesden Lacey.

Go beyond the manicured area of Polesden Lacey, and you find yourself in an attractive wilderness.

A Polesden Lacey miscellany.

Information swiped from:

• Greeves, Lydia, and Michael Trinick. The National Trust Guide. Rev. ed. London: National Trust, 1996.
• Lacey, Stephen. Gardens of the National Trust. Rev. ed. London: National Trust; New York: Abrams, 1996.

See the National Trust's page on Polesden Lacey for factual information (phone numbers, opening times, etc.).

Heather Cooke writes:

I was interested to see your site on the 'Net' re Polesden Lacey, as I lived on the estate as a child. We moved there shortly after the war when my father went to work there as forester, very soon after the National Trust took it over. I remember it extremely well and on a recent visit was astounded at some of the cosmetic changes that had been made, in particular to a farmhouse which I remember being built and now looks rather "palladian" rather than post-war grey. I was also rather shocked to find the way lots of footpaths etc. had been closed off. We walked through the woods to Ranmore to school and later cycled to Bookham. We left the area 1950/51 and moved to Shropshire. My mother, who lives near me, also remembers it very well in those days of post war austerity. I think the children on the estate probably had the best of it at the time as we had a great deal of freedom.

Susie Castleton writes:

My parents, sister and I were members of the camping club and spent every weekend from March to October camping on the site in the grounds back in the late 50's early 60's when I was . . . well a lot younger than I am now! The photos brought back very many happy memories and some not so happy like the night of the fire when the campers all helped the estate workers pull out carpets and ornaments from the house.

My main recollection of the Shakesperian festivals is that some of the campers used to sleep down at the 'stage' to guard various items that were around -- guarding the barrel of beer was the most popular!

Thanks for reminding me of many happy days -- and I agree, going into the orchard does seem like trespassing and the last time I was there I had to resist the urge to tell people to come out.

I'm very grateful to receive corrections and comments. Write to me (Peter Evans), or tell the whole world.

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Photos taken on 19 August 1998 (pl1*.jpg), one day in early June 2000 (pl0*.jpg), and on 23 August 2000 (pl4*.jpg). Web page first created, 25 June 2000; last fiddled with, 17 February 2003.