Servants quarters inside National Trust - Mottisfont Abbey Garden, House and Estate in August 2018, Mottisfont Lane, Romsey, Hampshire. England.
I decided to visit this National Trust run, place on the 3rd August 2018. Take the A3057 out of Romsey you will see a sign for Mottisfont about 3½ miles out of Romsey. They had a large car park which was free. It was in the middle of the heat wave we were having in Britain at the time and so many people were there with the kids because it was school holidays also. Mottisfont Abbey and with the house is a historical priory and country estate in Hampshire, England. The Abbey section was like a cellar building below the main part of the house and was so cool in the strong heat of summer outside. Sheltering in the valley of the River Test, the property is now operated by the National Trust. About 350,000 people visit each year. The site includes the historic house museum, regularly changing art exhibitions, gardens and a river walk. It is a Grade I listed building and next to the house is a fantastic Cafe area.
Mottisfont Abbey has wonderful grounds to complement the house itself. There are areas of wooded shade, a walk along the River Test, enough lawned area for many picnics and magnificent and pungent rose gardens, particularly on early summer evenings. On visiting Mottisfont you will be just as likely to encounter families with small children as you will a coach party or two of tourists. On a warm summer's day, Mottisfont is a relaxing retreat from the hustle and bustle of the busy city of Southampton and market town of Romsey, both nearby.
In the summer months they often hold theatre productions outside, and at different times of the year, there are specific trails, mainly but not totally aimed at children, for example at Easter, Halloween, Christmas etc. There are several points around the grounds where you can buy refreshments, a modern National Trust shop, ice cream parlour and exhibition space. A new Visitor Centre was completed early in 2016. An environmentally friendly building, it is heated in winter months by a biomass boiler burning wood chips from the estate. If you are walking The Test Way, which passes through Mottisfont and around the Abbey grounds, you will see the main house from the rear as you pass through fields along the northern boundary. While walking along this river walk I managed to see a Grass snake or water snake swimming in the very clear waters of the River Test.
Ancient trees, babbling brooks and rolling lawns surround this 18th-century house with a medieval priory at its heart. Maud Russell made Mottisfont her home in the 1930’s, bringing artists here to relax and create works inspired by Mottisfont’s past, including an extraordinary drawing room painted by Rex Whistler. The servant's rooms and Quarters are well worth a visit if only to see how they lived at this time. Winding paths meander through stately trees, with the sound of water never far away. The National Trust also looks after 1600 acres of woodland and tenanted farmland in the local area, including Stockbridge Down and Marsh, and Curbridge Nature Reserve. The wider estate is a wonderful place to explore, take a relaxing walk and take in the sights of some of Hampshire's most glorious countryside.
Fertile land and a plentiful water supply attracted the first settlers. The site's name comes from a spring or font that is still producing water in the grounds. It was the font around which the local community held its moots or meetings. An Augustinian priory was founded here in 1201 by William Briwere, a businessman, administrator and courtier to four Plantagenet kings who chose to make a public demonstration of his wealth and piety. The canons welcomed pilgrims en route to Winchester, who came to worship Mottisfont's relic, said to be the finger of St John the Baptist. (The word Abbey was added to the name Mottisfont by a future owner, several centuries later, but is a misnomer. The National Trust speculates that the name was considered more romantic than the historically - correct Priory.
The Black Death struck this initially prosperous priory and so suffered from the mid - 14th century onwards. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII, the priory was dissolved and the king gave Mottisfont to a favoured statesman, Sir William Sandys, who turned it into a country home, but rather unusually, chose not to demolish the existing priory. Sandys instead turned the church nave into the main body of the new mansion, building additional wings on either side. Sections of the original medieval church may still be seen, with the later additions built around them. The 13th - century cellarium also remains present today. This feels uneasily spooky in here being so old, damp, and a feeling of nostalgia so to speak by being in such a marvellous building that has stood the test of time.
Servants quarters inside National Trust - Mottisfont Abbey Garden, House and Estate in August 2018, Mottisfont Lane, Romsey, Hampshire. England.
I decided to visit this National Trust run, place on the 3rd August 2018. Take the A3057 out of Romsey you will see a sign for Mottisfont about 3½ miles out of Romsey. They had a large car park which was free. It was in the middle of the heat wave we were having in Britain at the time and so many people were there with the kids because it was school holidays also. Mottisfont Abbey and with the house is a historical priory and country estate in Hampshire, England. The Abbey section was like a cellar building below the main part of the house and was so cool in the strong heat of summer outside. Sheltering in the valley of the River Test, the property is now operated by the National Trust. About 350,000 people visit each year. The site includes the historic house museum, regularly changing art exhibitions, gardens and a river walk. It is a Grade I listed building and next to the house is a fantastic Cafe area.
Mottisfont Abbey has wonderful grounds to complement the house itself. There are areas of wooded shade, a walk along the River Test, enough lawned area for many picnics and magnificent and pungent rose gardens, particularly on early summer evenings. On visiting Mottisfont you will be just as likely to encounter families with small children as you will a coach party or two of tourists. On a warm summer's day, Mottisfont is a relaxing retreat from the hustle and bustle of the busy city of Southampton and market town of Romsey, both nearby.
In the summer months they often hold theatre productions outside, and at different times of the year, there are specific trails, mainly but not totally aimed at children, for example at Easter, Halloween, Christmas etc. There are several points around the grounds where you can buy refreshments, a modern National Trust shop, ice cream parlour and exhibition space. A new Visitor Centre was completed early in 2016. An environmentally friendly building, it is heated in winter months by a biomass boiler burning wood chips from the estate. If you are walking The Test Way, which passes through Mottisfont and around the Abbey grounds, you will see the main house from the rear as you pass through fields along the northern boundary. While walking along this river walk I managed to see a Grass snake or water snake swimming in the very clear waters of the River Test.
Ancient trees, babbling brooks and rolling lawns surround this 18th-century house with a medieval priory at its heart. Maud Russell made Mottisfont her home in the 1930’s, bringing artists here to relax and create works inspired by Mottisfont’s past, including an extraordinary drawing room painted by Rex Whistler. The servant's rooms and Quarters are well worth a visit if only to see how they lived at this time. Winding paths meander through stately trees, with the sound of water never far away. The National Trust also looks after 1600 acres of woodland and tenanted farmland in the local area, including Stockbridge Down and Marsh, and Curbridge Nature Reserve. The wider estate is a wonderful place to explore, take a relaxing walk and take in the sights of some of Hampshire's most glorious countryside.
Fertile land and a plentiful water supply attracted the first settlers. The site's name comes from a spring or font that is still producing water in the grounds. It was the font around which the local community held its moots or meetings. An Augustinian priory was founded here in 1201 by William Briwere, a businessman, administrator and courtier to four Plantagenet kings who chose to make a public demonstration of his wealth and piety. The canons welcomed pilgrims en route to Winchester, who came to worship Mottisfont's relic, said to be the finger of St John the Baptist. (The word Abbey was added to the name Mottisfont by a future owner, several centuries later, but is a misnomer. The National Trust speculates that the name was considered more romantic than the historically - correct Priory.
The Black Death struck this initially prosperous priory and so suffered from the mid - 14th century onwards. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII, the priory was dissolved and the king gave Mottisfont to a favoured statesman, Sir William Sandys, who turned it into a country home, but rather unusually, chose not to demolish the existing priory. Sandys instead turned the church nave into the main body of the new mansion, building additional wings on either side. Sections of the original medieval church may still be seen, with the later additions built around them. The 13th - century cellarium also remains present today. This feels uneasily spooky in here being so old, damp, and a feeling of nostalgia so to speak by being in such a marvellous building that has stood the test of time.