National Trust - Ashdown - Hungerford

Angela C.

Such a pretty house and grounds. The guided tour was amazing.

Marta F.

What a wonderful house we found with Ashdown House.
Everything looks perfect here, good size for a car park and you can choose between 5 circular walks.
The house is a nice little walk and all the guides are really good especially the woman who so kindly shared her knowledge about the house, the pictures and the families who lived there.
There are four steps before we enter the house, so the hall and after we went up to the top floor where there is a terrace from where you can explore the gardens and deer.

You can imagine how everything was back in time and it is wonderful.

The house has toilets for customers but there isn't any coffee shop yet.

It has the principal building where the family used to live and apart it was the kitchen and the barns for horses.

The house suffered transformations over the years and on these days it looks great!

A very recommended house, with a guide two days a week and you can book in advance.

We finished our visit but we have would like to be a bit more because we felt very comfortable there.

TheKaKaNow Y.

Saw 100 deers running across. It was never ending. I didn't take a photo because I was waiting for the tour. We went in a tour. Guide is very knowledgeable. It took longer than expected as some guests kept asking history questions, but the history is things you learn when you're 11 so I'd hope most people already know the basics of England's history with Elizabeth I, the men..., Henry VII, etc. View at top was nice. After we went for a walk around but couldn't find the deer. We went quite far all around then gave up. It's a shame because I've only seen those types of deer in Asia. Fallows. They run around in circles in herds in the enclosure but since this is wild, they still run in LARGE circles around the estate. They could have been anywhere by now... now I wish I walked over for the pics/ videos. This place is bookable only. It is VERY popular... most slots were booked so I booked a quieter one but there was still about 20 of us crowded around. People live here so you just hear the story and see the paintings/ view.

Good luck trying to park. There's no lines and people were taking up 3 spaces with 2 cars.

Ionut -. H.

Such a wonderful place . Opened for public on Wednesday and Saturdays, and will simply emerge you in wonderful views all around .
Hopefully if you are lucky enough you will have someone telling the place's story which is unbelievable, and if you have plenty of time to spare you can explore all the designated areas which is situated in the heart of an HorseLand.
Purely amazing , can't wait to go back.

Mark C.

Great views from the roof of the house. Pleasant and knowledgeable guide (guided tour only). Accessible space in the house itself is not much more than the staircase; but it's an impressive staircase! Good walks in the estate.

Evalynn B.

Visited in September 2019. To be honest for a long while I wanted to visit this house, but because it was opened only one afternoon a week, so I never had a chance to do that. Then on the way back to London from my Wales holiday I drove through this area in the opening time, so I decided to stop. The car park is very small, I hardly found a hidden space, then walked up to the house. It has only guided tours and I caught the last one that day. A group of people stood in the small hall, listened to the history of the house told by a guide, then we walked up to the staircase always 1 floor at a time, to stand again and listen to further stories. We repeated that a few times while we reached the rooftop, the top of this attraction. Lovely view, and I took quite a few pictures, because I already knew that never more I'll get back here.
Our guide's voice was so monotonous and boring (sorry to say that, but this is the truth), that I hardly can remember any interesting bit. I seem to remember that the house is private, owned (or rented) by a very rich and famous person (not sure if politicians or celeb), hence it is not really open to the public. We indeed did not see anything else than the staircase, which was full with paintings, only portraits of the family. Because the guide could not keep my interest, so I was a bit bored and could focus on other things, i.e. the lots of wasps around alive, dying and death on the staircase and window sills, more and more as we get higher and higher in the building, many times we had to step them over. I mentioned it to the guide and seemed they are aware of it. But yet it was quite disgusting in a rich building seeing this on the stairs and also hear their continuous buzz, that it was the strongest memory I brought from that house!!! I definitely wouldn't wish to go back and I do not care whose this place.
It has a simple rear garden fenced from the surrounding fields, and near to the building there is a newly built toilet- only 1. The guide was very proud to tell us that it is a new facility, because before they did not have toilets on site, and they had to change each other each time to walk very long to the estate guard's toilets to use. (!!!)
Well, this definitely grounded my opinion of that very rich and famous owner, who let their own workers walk long miles to a toilet. I believe their workers were happy to built them one... Not to mention the visitors, who pay money to see the house!!!
The house is in a nice area by the way, but would be better to decide to close and be private, or open normally to the public at least 2-3 days a week. This half-day-a-week, 1 newly built toilet, no cafe/tearoom does not really make visitors satisfied.
I don't say it is bad, it is a nice house and estate, but it definitely has some spots to improve...

Rik

A kind of strange Dutch style house in the middle of a forested oasis. Built in 1662 it was a token of love from the lovesick Earl Craven to the Queen of Bohemia. The house is often closed and you can't really get close; my one criticism is the strange pre ticket booking system. It seems to me to be always full which rather suggest there is an unrealistic number of tickets available. However the grounds are open daily. The grounds provide a long mown avenue lined by forests dripping with flowers at certain times of year. You can either walk the central grass avenue which gives great views of the house or walk on winding paths through the forests on both sides. It is worth noting there is free, yes free, which is very unusual for the national trust, parking at the foot of the hill but make sure you get the right entrance, there is one road to the car park and one to the house - use the car park entrance. A wonderful wonderful place.

Rolf V.

House with a history. Nice tour with interesti g details and anecdotes. Splendid view from the roof! Only open on certain days.