Wimpole Estate

Over het museum

Wimpole has been settled and farmed for more than 2,000 years. The core of the present Hall is a seven-bay house begun around 1640 by Sir Thomas Chicheley, which was extended between 1713 and 1721 by the architect James Gibbs for Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford. Gibbs designed a library for Harley's very large collection of books and manuscripts, which later became the founding collection of the British Library, and a chapel with trompe l'oeil murals by Sir James Thornhill. Charles Bridgeman laid out ponds, woods and a three-mile avenue in the 1720s.

Debt forced Harley to sell the estate in 1740 to Philip Yorke, Lord Hardwicke, who became Lord Chancellor. His family, the Earls of Hardwicke, owned Wimpole for more than a century. They commissioned Henry Flitcroft to reface the house in red brick and Portland stone, Lancelot 'Capability' Brown and later Humphry Repton to reshape the park, and in 1790 Sir John Soane to create the Yellow Drawing Room and a bath house. The model Home Farm was built in 1794, and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed for two days in 1843.

Gambling debts forced the 5th Earl to give up the estate in 1894, and by the 1930s the Hall stood almost empty. In 1938 it was bought by Captain George Bambridge and his wife Elsie, the daughter of Rudyard Kipling, who refurnished it with pieces linked to Wimpole's history. Elsie Bambridge left the Hall and estate to the National Trust when she died in 1976. Today the estate includes the Hall, pleasure grounds and a walled garden, a stable block, a parish church and Home Farm, with about 500 acres of parkland and a Gothic folly restored in 2016.

Hoogtepunten

• Yellow Drawing Room designed by Sir John Soane
• Baroque chapel with murals by Sir James Thornhill
• Library of more than 10,000 books
• Home Farm with rare-breed animals
• Pleasure grounds and walled garden
• Parkland landscaped by Capability Brown with a Gothic folly

Vaste collectie

• Wimpole Hall – Rooms from different periods, including Soane's Yellow Drawing Room, Gibbs's Baroque chapel with murals by Thornhill, the Long Gallery and the basement servants' rooms.
• Library – More than 10,000 books across two rooms, collected by the Hardwicke and Bambridge families in a library designed for Edward Harley.
• Home Farm – A model farm of 1794 run in hand by the National Trust, with rare-breed animals including shire horses, pigs, sheep and goats.

Opgericht

1976

Beheerder

National Trust

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

The Whole Estate ticket includes the Hall, gardens, parkland and Home Farm. Prices are shown without Gift Aid; with Gift Aid the adult ticket is £23.10, the child ticket £11.60 and the family ticket £57.80. National Trust members enter free. There is no pre-booking system for daytime admission: visitors show their membership card or pay on arrival.

Toegankelijkheid

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

The main entrance to the Hall is up 12 stone steps, and a stair climber can be booked in advance; the ground floor is then step-free, but the first floor and basement are reached only by stairs, with a side entrance to the basement that has three steps. A photo book of the upper rooms is available. Blue Badge bays are about 94 yards from the Visitor Welcome Centre, and several step-free hard routes cross the estate, including the 5.5 km multi-use trail. Five powered scooters, two manual wheelchairs, two mountain trikes and a Tramper can be borrowed, and an eight-seat buggy runs daily from 10:00 to 16:00. Accessible toilets are at the Welcome Centre, the Hall, Home Farm and the Stables; there is no Changing Places toilet, and the nearest is at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Induction loops are at all tills, and large print, braille guides and sensory bags are available at the Welcome Centre. Only assistance dogs are allowed in the Hall, gardens and Home Farm.

Kinderen & gezin

Erg geschikt voor kinderen & gezinnen

• Gezinsrondleidingen & workshops
• Speurtocht, doeboekje of kinderaudiotour
• Kinderwagenvriendelijk
• Verschoonruimte
• Speeltuin / speelhoek

Home Farm, one of the UK's largest rare breed centres, has a new playground with climbing frames, an adventure trail and accessible swings, and a trail with eight brass rubbings. The Very Hungry Caterpillar trail runs in the gardens until 2 November 2026, there are Halloween events and a Stranger Folk app, and a pre-school group called Little Acorns meets on selected dates for children aged 2 to 5. A multi-use cycle trail of 5.5 miles suits children learning to cycle. Baby-changing facilities are at the Welcome Centre, the Hall, the Old Rectory, the Stables and Home Farm, and the path from the car park to the Stables, garden and Home Farm suits pushchairs.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

Wimpole lies 8 miles south-west of Cambridge on the A603 and 6 miles north of Royston on the A1198; follow the brown tourist signs, because some satnav systems lead to an unused gateway. A National Trust cycle path leads to the entrance from Orwell on the A603, and the Wimpole Way footpath runs from Cambridge.

Service & horeca

• Café
• Restaurant
• Museumwinkel
• Wifi: niet aanwezig

The Old Rectory Restaurant has a terrace overlooking the gardens and serves light lunches and cakes, the Stable Café and the Farm Café offer drinks and snacks, and children's lunchboxes are available in the restaurant. The shop sells farm produce, gifts, toys and plants, and a second-hand bookshop is in the Stables. The estate states that there is no public Wi-Fi. Toilets are at Hardwicke Gate, the Hall, Home Farm, the restaurant and the Stables.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

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