Surrounded by gardens and set in parkland with views over the Hampshire countryside, Hinton Ampner is everyone’s vision of a Georgian house.
There has been a house here since Tudor times but this was pulled down at the end of the C18th to be replaced by a yellow brick Georgian house. This was enlarged in the mid C19th with a neo-Tudor style Victorian addition.
Ralph Dutton inherited a gloomy Victorian house, and described it as a ‘monstrosity of exceptional hideousness’. He had plans to demolish the Victorian additions to reveal the Georgian core. The Second World War intervened and nothing happened. In 1960 there was a fire which destroyed the house along with most of his collection of furniture and paintings.
This was the opportunity he was waiting for – to rebuild a Georgian house but with all the C20th mod cons. He succeeded and the attractive brick building looks as if it has been there for two centuries rather than 60 years.
He designed a “garden”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/gardens/england/south/hinton_ampner/index.html to complement the house, with steps leading down to a sunken garden with views across the Hampshire countryside.
Inside, the house is furnished with his collection of Georgian furniture as well as Adam ceilings and fireplaces rescued from houses about to be demolished.
Ralph Dutton was unmarried and the house was bequeathed to the National Trust on his death. In 2014 a gale blew off a large section of the copper roof. Asbestos was discovered in the roof space and work to replace the roof wasn’t completed until the end of 2015. The south bedroom and dressing room were still to be reopened in September 2016.
The house is surrounded by attractive formal gardens and parkland and has a large walled garden. “All Saints’ Church”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/gardens/england/south/hinton_ampner/index.html is also in the grounds.
This is a very attractive house and the inside is a delight. I have covered this in a “sparate review.”:http://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/attraction/169978 It is easy to spend half a day here with the “gardens,”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/gardens/england/south/hinton_ampner/index.html, church and “waymarked trails”:https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hinton-ampner/features/the-estate-and-parkland-at-hinton-ampner around the estate. There is a shop and “tea room”:http://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/restaurant/166590-review-stables-tea-room-at-hinton-ampner in the stable block. The house is open daily from 11-4.30 and the grounds from 11-5. There is no reduction for seniors. The post code is SO24 0LA and the grid reference is SU 596275.
There are lots more pictures “here.”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/stately_homes_castles/england/south/hinton_ampner/index.html
DISABLED ACCESS
There are disabled bays in the car park and there is a map of accessible routes around the grounds available from visitor reception.
There is ramped access to the house and the ground floor is accessible but not the first floor. There are wheelchairs available to borrow.
There is a disabled toilet near the tea room which is also accessible, as is the shop.
