Greys Court is a Tudor country house and gardens in the southern Chiltern Hills at Rotherfield Greys, near Henley-on-Thames in the county of Oxfordshire, England. Now owned by the National Trust, and we visited quite recently.
We’ve been there before at a different time of year, so was nice to see it in the autumn. That said it’s been strangely mild this season. So some plants are still flowering in the gardens which is a bit odd.
I also commented that we didn’t need hats and gloves at the time we visited about two weeks ago. That changed this weekend, it’s now bitterly cold around here!
The old walled garden is delightful and this little archway was rather small. The Tudor people were apparently rather short but this short? I had to duck quite a bit and I’m only 5’ 10”!
The herb garden still full of scents and looking colourful.
I couldn’t believe this rose was in flower, normally they’d long be done and dusted for the year.
To of the majestic trees at the front of the house. The butter behind them is beautiful, looking out across the Chilterns, the landscapers of the day must have used this as a “borrowed landscape” as they’re called.
We didn’t walk out into the surrounding grounds, as we stuck to the house and garden. I’ve since read that there is an arboretum to explore and the Moon Bridge, a Chinese style structure dedicated the Brunners’ Chinese friend, Dr So Yan-Kit. The ha-ha that it crosses is full of blue irises, which will only show in Spring, that give the impression of moving water under the bridge.
We went into one of the annexed buildings to take a look at the permanent exhibition they have there. Here we learnt about the people of Greys Court. It was home to the Brunner family until fairly recently when it was handed over to the National Trust.
Inside the house there's a plain pine staircase, at the top of which is a window containing five panels of 16th and 17th-century stained glass. They are all originally from Switzerland and would likely have been collected by Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet, on one of his frequent trips to the country.
Called Wappenscheib, such panels were very popular throughout Switzerland in the 16th and 17th centuries and were often given as gifts to commemorate a marriage or the completion of a public building.
The day we went, volunteers were just starting to put together the Christmas decorations for the holiday season. If we were to go back today, I’d bet it looks beautiful.
A nice touch. These cushions are everywhere around the house with little history anecdotes. Sir Felix Brunner was, as the cushion says the chairman of the open spaces society which still exists today. Check https://www.oss.org.uk/