DEENE PARK

Before the Norman Conquest and for 150 years afterwards the Manor of Deene belonged to the Abbey of Westminster and was used occasionally by the Abbot. In about 1215 it was let for the first time to Sir Ivo de Deene for the annual rent of £18 and an obligation to provide hospitality once a year for the Abbot and his household an agreement which continued unaltered for 750 years.

Various families, including the Colets and the Lyttons leased the property until it was acquired in 1514 by Sir Robert Brudenell (1461-1531), later Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. It has descended through the male line to the Brudenells of today who continued to pay the rent of £18 until 1970.

The house was built over six centuries and grew from a substantial quadrangular-plan medieval manor into a Tudor and Georgian mansion, whose main front now faces south across the Park and Lake. Successive generations have altered the house to suit their needs and have helped endow the collections within, which contain Tudor Manuscripts, Old Masters and Family Portraits, porcelain and much military memorabilia from the Crimean War.

After the Second World War, Deene had merely two bathrooms and electricity had only just been put in. Edmund Brudenell opened the house to the public and he and his wife Marian began the much needed restoration work of re-plumbing, rewiring and re-decorating. The refurbishment is testament to their wise and clever life’s work and to Mrs Brudenell’s exquisite taste. The house today is the home of Robert & Charlotte Brudenell and their son William.

House Tours:
Groups can enjoy a private morning or afternoon guided tour of over fifteen rooms often used by family and friends. As Deene Park is a fully-functioning family home, private guided tours are offered between April and September on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. A tour of the house typically lasts 90 minutes. The cost of a group visit to Deene Park is £12.00 per head which covers entry to the house and gardens. A minimum charge of £240.00 is applicable to groups with under 20 people.

Garden Tours:
The gardens at Deene are largely to the south and west of the house and feature fine herbaceous borders and a grand parterre designed by the late David Hicks, which becomes more spectacular as it matures. The wide variety of flora naturally changes throughout the year, from snowdrops, daffodils and tulips in the spring to roses, iris, clematis, fox-glove, hydrangea and a wide variety of perennial, herbaceous plants and flowering shrubs during the summer months.
Garden tours are available in the mornings only Tuesday to Thursday from May until the end of August and last approximately 90 minutes.

The cost of a private guided tour of the gardens is £7.50 per head. A minimum charge of £112.50 is applicable to groups with under 15 people.