Parham House

About the museum

Parham House stands in an 875-acre estate in West Sussex. The land was granted by Henry VIII to Robert Palmer, and the foundation stone of the present house was laid on 28 January 1577 by his two-year-old grandson Thomas, a custom believed to bring good luck. The house was later sold to Thomas Bishopp, whose descendants lived there for eleven generations until 1922.

In 1922 Parham was bought by the Hon. Clive Pearson and his wife Alicia. The house was in very poor repair, and the architect Victor Heal supervised careful renovation work through the 1920s and 1930s. During the Second World War the family took in relatives, friends and 30 evacuee children from London, and Canadian soldiers were based on the estate from 1942. The Pearsons opened the house to the public in 1948, among the first to do so regularly after the war.

Over more than forty years the Pearsons filled the house with furniture, paintings, books, textiles and clocks. Alicia Pearson built up one of the most important collections of early needlework in the country, including Stuart embroidered pictures, bed hangings and furniture covers. The Great Hall, the 48-metre Long Gallery and the Great Chamber with its embroidered bed are among the main rooms. The seven acres of pleasure grounds and the four-acre walled garden, with buildings by Victor Heal from the 1920s, are open to visitors. The estate is owned by a charitable trust, and the family who care for it still live there.

Highlights

• Collection of early needlework, including Stuart embroidery
• Long Gallery, 48 metres long, the third longest in a private house in England
• Great Hall with Tudor and Stuart portraits and a carved oak screen
• Four-acre walled garden with herbaceous borders and a 1920s greenhouse
• Pleasure grounds with a lake and a turf and brick maze

Permanent exhibitions

• Parham House: the needlework collection – A collection of early needlework with Stuart embroidered pictures, bed hangings, furniture covers and samplers, shown alongside portraits.
• Walled garden and pleasure grounds – A four-acre walled garden with borders, a rose garden and an orchard, and seven acres of pleasure grounds with a lake and a maze.

Founded

1948

Operated by

Parham Park Ltd (registered charity)

Admission & discounts

The prices listed online include a voluntary 10 percent Gift Aid donation (house and gardens: adult 18.15 pounds, child 8.25 pounds; gardens only: adult 13.75 pounds, child 5.50 pounds); the amounts shown here are the standard prices without the donation. Tickets can be bought online or at the entrance kiosk. Payment on site is by card only. Historic Houses members enter the house and gardens free at the kiosk. Royal Horticultural Society members (member 1 only) enter the gardens free between 5 April and 31 May and between 2 September and 11 October 2026, with an upgrade to the house for 4 pounds on site.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: not available
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Wheelchair users can reach the three ground-floor rooms of the house (Great Hall, Great Parlour and Saloon) by two ramps; access should be arranged with admissions on arrival from 14:00. There is no wheelchair access to the first and second floors, and powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters cannot enter the house because of the fragile floors. A limited number of wheelchairs can be reserved by phone. The gardens are mostly flat, but paths are gravel or flagstone, are uneven in places and can be unsuitable for wheelchairs and slippery in wet weather. An accessible toilet is in Fountain Court. There is a designated accessible car park next to the house. Assistance dogs are welcome in all areas, including the house.

Kids & families

Getting there & parking

The main entrance is on the A283 between Pulborough and Storrington. For satnav use the postcode RH20 4HR (what3words: this.songbird.contain). Cycling is not allowed anywhere in the park.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

The Mower Shed Café, run by Joanna's Boutique Tearoom, serves hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, sausage rolls, scones and cakes, with limited indoor seating and benches in the grounds. The garden shop sells over 200 perennial plants and the gift shop sells estate products. The café and shops are for ticket holders only. Mobile phone signal is generally very poor.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

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