Visited here twice over the span of a week, once with the SO, and the second with mookster,Brewtal, Zotez and obscurity.
It's a big place and I didn't realise how much I'd missed till the second visit!
History
Bulstrode house (listed grade II) lies towards the centre of the park. Rebuilt by Benjamin Ferrey 1860-2 for the twelfth Duke of Somerset, probably incorporating elements of the earlier buildings, it is a rambling, red-brick, Tudor-style building with an imposing tower over the main, north entrance and a French Renaissance-style colonnade on the south front giving access to the adjoining south terrace. The enclosed Inner Court, a service courtyard, is attached to the east side of the house, with various C20 buildings close by. Attached to the north-east corner of the house is the Outer Court, entered from the forecourt through a Gothic arch with a ducal crest in the gable, flanked by railings and brick piers with stone caps. The other three sides of this court have a Gothic loggia fronting a single-storey building; access to the Inner Court is through a gateway on the south side.
In 1966, the community moved to Kent, and the property was bought by WEC International, a Christian evangelist missionary organisation who have gradually restored and improved the public parts of the house's interior.
The house was put up for sale in 2016 and it's now intended to be turned into a luxury hotel. It was also used recently as a film set for the latest Johnny English film.
The Explore
A pretty simple one, apart from having to wade through a muddy bog in a field. The house is huge and even after a few hours I felt like I'd need a re-visit the following week to see the rest of it, especially with the snow and ice making parts like the rooftops terrifying slippery. The second visit was a lovely sunny day and much more pleasant.
Unfortunately the local kids have been getting in and really smashing the place up good and proper. A real shame as its got some really nice original features.
The Fire alarms still worked and these were pretty much going off 24/7, which was great to cover up the noise of us moving around inside, but also really really annoying! However Brewtal made it his personal mission to find the fuseboard and turn them off. Took him a little while but he did it! Bliss at last.
When WEC International left in 2016 they stripped out pretty much everything and so a good chunk of the rooms are empty and not too interesting. However the whole lower floor/Basement level had some really nice interesting bits and the power still worked!
We were doing really well until we set off some PIR alarms in one of the outbuildings while we were leaving. Whoops!
Turned out to be a great explore!
The Photos
Externals
Internals
]
The clock tower mechanism which still could be operated.
The Basement level. Most the lights worked!
It's a big place and I didn't realise how much I'd missed till the second visit!
History
Bulstrode house (listed grade II) lies towards the centre of the park. Rebuilt by Benjamin Ferrey 1860-2 for the twelfth Duke of Somerset, probably incorporating elements of the earlier buildings, it is a rambling, red-brick, Tudor-style building with an imposing tower over the main, north entrance and a French Renaissance-style colonnade on the south front giving access to the adjoining south terrace. The enclosed Inner Court, a service courtyard, is attached to the east side of the house, with various C20 buildings close by. Attached to the north-east corner of the house is the Outer Court, entered from the forecourt through a Gothic arch with a ducal crest in the gable, flanked by railings and brick piers with stone caps. The other three sides of this court have a Gothic loggia fronting a single-storey building; access to the Inner Court is through a gateway on the south side.
In 1966, the community moved to Kent, and the property was bought by WEC International, a Christian evangelist missionary organisation who have gradually restored and improved the public parts of the house's interior.
The house was put up for sale in 2016 and it's now intended to be turned into a luxury hotel. It was also used recently as a film set for the latest Johnny English film.
The Explore
A pretty simple one, apart from having to wade through a muddy bog in a field. The house is huge and even after a few hours I felt like I'd need a re-visit the following week to see the rest of it, especially with the snow and ice making parts like the rooftops terrifying slippery. The second visit was a lovely sunny day and much more pleasant.
Unfortunately the local kids have been getting in and really smashing the place up good and proper. A real shame as its got some really nice original features.
The Fire alarms still worked and these were pretty much going off 24/7, which was great to cover up the noise of us moving around inside, but also really really annoying! However Brewtal made it his personal mission to find the fuseboard and turn them off. Took him a little while but he did it! Bliss at last.
When WEC International left in 2016 they stripped out pretty much everything and so a good chunk of the rooms are empty and not too interesting. However the whole lower floor/Basement level had some really nice interesting bits and the power still worked!
We were doing really well until we set off some PIR alarms in one of the outbuildings while we were leaving. Whoops!
Turned out to be a great explore!
The Photos
Externals
Internals
]
The clock tower mechanism which still could be operated.
The Basement level. Most the lights worked!
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