STANSTED PARK
WEST SUSSEX
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Located between Chichester and Portsmouth, just off the A3 and only 1 ½ hours from London, Stansted Park stands in 1800 acres of extraordinary landscaped parkland and ancient forest.
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An enchanting Country Estate with a Grade II* Stately Home nestled within South Downs National Park boasting views of the Solent. The earliest records of inhabitants on the estate date back to medieval times when the grounds were used for hunting. King Henry II, Richard the Lionheart and King John have all been known to have visited the forest.
In 1688 the first house was built on the present site for Lord Lumley, although the Estate changed hands and appearance over the centuries. Several magnificent beech, known as ‘Crow’s Feet’ were laid out providing spectacular vistas.
In 1900 a devastating fire tore through the house leaving nothing but the original vaulted crypt. The house was painstakingly rebuilt in the Carolean style over the following three years on the exact footprint of the old house. It was purchased in 1924 by the 9th Earl of Bessborough who, in 1983, decided to establish a Charitable Trust charged with the preservation of the Estate for the benefit of the nation.
This fine Edwardian building is adorned with the Ponsonby family portraits and possessions as well as original furniture, fixtures and fittings. The house has one of Britain’s best examples of ‘life below stairs’ with room upon room laid out as it would have been in the house’s heyday as well as a notable Library left as it was in the 10th Earl’s time.
Stansted Park also has a Grade I Listed Private Chapel, which has a unique colourful history of its own. This elegant Regency chapel stands on the site of the first great house and re-uses some of its fifteenth century masonry and locks.
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Bedrooms / bridal suite, ground floor, main Hall, music room, blue drawing room, dining room, boudoir, library & family museum room, basement, Edwardian servants’ quarters, including crypt, undercroft and servants’ hall, west balcony, east and west porticos and south terrace and gravel forecourt, extensive gardens, south and east lawn, dutch garden, walled gardens, wellhead garden and arboretum, chapel and graveyard, reception,Estate office, WiFi, in mansion and courtyard facilities, parking, both on site and large vehicle access.
