06.04.2019, 09:00 A.M.

Description

Meon Valley in Hampshire is full of picturesque villages and hamlets. We will be visiting two of them, East Meon and Warnford, where we will tour two private houses, The Court House and the Summer Folly.

The Court House, East Meon

East Meon was a manor of the Bishops of Winchester from before the Norman conquest, their largest in Hampshire, and The Court House was the manor house. The principal part of the present building, consisting of a great hall and service wing with a great chamber above, dates from 1395 to 1397. It was built by William of Wykeham and the architect was his master mason William Wynford, who designed the re-formed nave of Winchester Cathedral, Winchester College and New College, Oxford. The mediaeval building survives barely altered. It is built mainly of flint and malmstone with tiled roofs, and the original structure of the great hall roof remains intact. The house was used as an occasional residence of the bishops during the Middle Ages, and, as in every manor, the manor court was held there – hence its name. After the bishops ceased to use it as a residence it became the centre of a large farm and a farmhouse wing in timber and brick was added in the early-17th century. In 1926 the house was bought by the distinguished architect P R Morley Horder, who restored it with great sensitivity, added a modest wing in the Arts and Crafts style and laid out a garden on what had been farmyard. It is now the home of George and Clare Bartlett.

The Summer House Folly, Warnford

The Summer House Folly in Warnford is a delightful conceit, a Gothick lodge originally designed as a bath house. It was built in the late-18th century as a bath house for the Norman Irish 11th Earl of Clanricarde. Running beneath the building is a canal, a tributary of the River Meon, which originally fed the windowless lower-ground-floor bathing pool. The octagonal pool room is now, with great aptness, a bathroom. This three-storey house has been carefully restored by the renowned art expert William Thuillier who will explain the Jane Austen connection to the estate. The Folly sits in Capability Brown designed parkland. The tour will include a walk past the lake to view the 13th-century St John’s House ruins and The Church of Our Lady Warnford; it has been a site of worship for 1300 years. The nave and chancel are Early English, rebuilt about 1190 by Adam de Port who held the Manor of Warnford from 1171 to 1213, while the tower is Norman. There are fascinating 1600s monuments to the Neale family.

Details

We will depart from the V&A by coach at 9am sharp and first visit The Court House where we will also have coffee. Afterwards, we will have a two-course set lunch at Ye Olde George Inn very close to The Court House. In the afternoon, we will visit The Summer House Folly where wine and tea will be provided. The visit will finish late afternoon and we expect to return to London by 7.00pm, depending on traffic.

Ticket prices include tours of The Court House and The Summer House Folly, coffee/tea in The Court House, tea/wine in The Summer House Folly and a two-course lunch. Price excludes drinks at lunchtime. Members: £90. Non Members: £95. YIGs £75.

As this visit is restricted to 30 attendees, Members will be given priority. Non-Member tickets will go on sale two weeks before the event, should spaces still be available.

For further information, please contact the event organiser:

Stuart Blakley - stuart.blakley@taylorwimpey.com

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