Chastleton House

Chastleton House is one of England's rare and probably one of the most complete Jacobean houses to be seen.

Chastleton House can be found in a beautiful Cotswolds setting in the village of Chastleton, near Moreton-in-Marsh, close to the Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire border . The house stands next to the 12th-century village church and is owned by the National Trust who re-opened the property in 1997 after six years of conservation work .

It is a house full of rare and everyday objects, portraits, furniture and textiles which have been collected ever since its creation in 1612. There is also an atmosphere of four hundred years of continuous occupation by one family, a house that is lived in, with wellington boots, walking sticks and other general day to day things, just lying around.

The Elizabethan garden is a classic design of the period and at the centre is a ring of topiary. Here in 1865 the rules for the modern game of croquet was drawn up on the lawns surrounding the house.

When I visited the house, I had a chuckle to myself when reading the guide booklet. The story goes that in the 1940's the owner at that time, Mrs Irene Whitmore-Jones decided to opened the house. She would tell visitors that the family had lost all their money during the war. Mrs Irene Whitmore-Jones would continue to explain that the war in question was the English Civil War and not WW11, which Europe had just gone through.

The National Trust's biggest concern is that Chastleton House is unique and the protection of the house and all its contents is paramount, so the number of visitors is limited each day. Admission to the house is by timed ticket only and the advice is to book any visit in advance.

There are no facilities other than toilets at the property.The car-park is about 250 yards from the house and there is a steep walk from the car park to the house.

Chastleton House Opening Times