Valentines Mansion

Over het museum

Valentines Mansion is more than 320 years old. It was built around 1696 for Elizabeth Tillotson, the widow of an Archbishop of Canterbury, as a new brick house standing in open country several miles from the edge of London. In the 1720s the City merchant and banker Robert Surman bought the estate and laid out the dovecote, walled gardens and grottoes, and in the 1760s the owner Sir Charles Raymond spent part of his fortune on a renovation that gave the house its Georgian appearance.

The last private resident, Sarah Ingleby, died in 1906, and the council acquired the house in 1912. In later years it served as a home for wartime refugees, a hospital, a public health centre and a council housing department. After standing empty for about 15 years, it was restored with strong community support and reopened to the public in 2009.

Today the mansion and its historic gardens are part of Valentines Park. The house is open to visitors on two days a week to see period furnished rooms, including a recreated Victorian kitchen and a Georgian bedchamber, with an audio tour that visitors play on their own phones. It is also used for weddings and other events, and the top floor holds studios for local artists. A gallery on the ground floor is open on the same days.

Hoogtepunten

• Period furnished rooms including a Victorian kitchen and a Georgian bedchamber
• Audio tour played on a visitor's own device
• Historic walled gardens with a Victorian rose garden and rococo grottoes
• Gardener's Cottage Café in the kitchen garden
• Art gallery and studios for local artists

Vaste collectie

• Period rooms – Rooms furnished in period style, including a recreated Victorian kitchen and a Georgian bedchamber, explored with an audio tour.

Opgericht

2009

Beheerder

Vision Venues

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

De toegang is gratis.

Entry to the open days is free.

Toegankelijkheid

• Rolstoeltoegankelijk: geen informatie
• Lift: geen informatie
• Aangepast toilet: geen informatie
• Gehandicaptenparkeerplaats: geen informatie
• Hulphonden welkom
• Tastmodellen / voelbare objecten: geen informatie
• Rondleidingen in gebarentaal: geen informatie
• Informatie in eenvoudige taal: geen informatie
• Audiodescriptie: geen informatie

No dogs are allowed in the house except guide dogs.

Kinderen & gezin

Erg geschikt voor kinderen & gezinnen

• Gezinsrondleidingen & workshops

The mansion presents its open days as a family day out, with events, exhibitions and a sounds trail. School groups can book costumed role-play sessions.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

By road, the mansion is reached from the A406 at the junction for the A12 and from the M25 at junction 27 via the A406 east.

Service & horeca

• Café

The Gardener's Cottage Café in the kitchen garden serves light lunches, cakes and hot and cold drinks and is open every day.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

• Ruimtes te huur
• Privéfeesten
• Zakelijke evenementen
• Bruiloften / trouwceremonies

The mansion is licensed for marriage ceremonies and is hired for receptions, parties, funeral wakes, business events and filming. The Drawing Room can be hired for events of up to 50 guests.

Je bezoek plannen