Tyntesfield House

Tyntesfield House is a National Trust property recently opened to the public and for those who are interested you can take a little tour of
the house and garden and house.

When my daughter Beccy and her family visited us (Julian is taking the photo)
back in July we decided to take a trip to this Victorian country house and estate that is situated on a ridge overlooking the beautiful Vale of Nailsea, only seven miles from Bristol. William Gibbs bought Tyntes Place - the original, Regency-Gothic house on the site - in 1843. But it was not until 1863 that he began to rebuild it into a Gothic-Revival extravaganza that is decorated with stone carving. The Gibbs family history is very interesting.

The house is very much as the family lived in it and at present, the public only have access to the ground floor as the content of each room in the house has to be catalogued. We happened to choose one of the hottest days in July for our visit but despite the heat we really enjoyed the walk around the different gardens and the outside of the house. It seems to be a popular place for artists as there were lots of people painting various aspects of the house. The greenhouses are back in use and there was some garden produce for visitors to try with an honesty box for donations going towards the restoration work, so we came away with a bag of salad and veg. I have to say the cherries were not a great success and probably should have been used in a pie. (I failed to take a photo as I was not thinking about blogging back then).


The chapel, which is an intregal part of the house, may not look much from the outside but it is beautiful and well worth a visit to hear it's history from one of the guides. Services were held three times a day and the servants had to attend.
After our meander through kitchens, which was the final part of the tour the grand children were hot and tired and in need of refreshment. We stupidly had not thought to take a picnic but the little cafe served drinks, ice cream which helped to revive them.

This house is a marvellous piece of social history and is well worth a visit. It is my intention to become a member of the National Trust so that I can visit more of our English heritage houses and I will most certainly be back to Tyntesfield especially once the rest of the house is on view.




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